#fighting fascism is a daily effort

[femmecelworld]

something I have been thinking about these last few horrible weeks is how similar this is to trump's first administration, when it was clear the strategy was to overwhelm people with fresh horrors every day. fascism thrives where people are tired, and feel morally depleted and apathetic. too run-down to fight.

right now, there are organizations fighting back, filing lawsuits, etc. obviously all of that is crucial. but the day-to-day resistance of ordinary people is just as important. when your coworker cites some piece of propaganda from elon or trump or ben shapiro or whatever, push back on that. you don't have to start fights with people or even 'talk politics', you can say, "I've heard that (propaganda) too and I looked it up, turns out (real information) is how this works instead."

an acquaintance recently tried to tell a group of people that, "it's not right immigrants can just commit crimes without consequences," and I had to swallow my immediate response of "you are a fucking idiot" and moderate myself, then tell him and everyone that if an undocumented person commits a crime, even a misdemeanor, they can be deported immediately. immediately. nearly 50% of people deported by ICE have no criminal record at all. so no part of what he said was true.

the overton window has shifted drastically in the last decade and it's wild what people now believe, or will admit to in public without shame or pretense. the slow, insidious creep of lying about basic facts has been growing for decades and it's at a sprint now.

we don't have to let them normalize fascism. we have blown past a lot of (nearly all) early warning signs of fascism (demonizing immigrants, propaganda, disregard for human/civil rights, mocking education and the arts, rise in misogyny, puritanism and sex-shaming, increased fearmongering about national security threats, etc. etc.) but we don't have to give up. these fascist shitheads are counting on that.

when someone says some bs about immigration, I counter with facts but then ask them what they're more worried about, people that have become a vague amorphous threat of 'they'll steal your jobs' by political framing or the fact that US federal minimum wage has been at $7.25 since 2008 while CEO pay rate is 400x that of the average worker. giant corporations made record profits during the pandemic from price-gouging and creating record inflation. in the pandemic, American billionaires increased their networth by 1.5 trillion dollars. (from Oxfam)

The corporate tax rate is 21%—and that's before overseas tax shelters. Most billionaires pay less in taxes (by percent) than you or I do. You really should read this report from ProPublica about how billionaires avoid paying taxes and manipulate the IRS. And this series is from 2021, so these numbers don’t account for the 1.5 trillion in wage theft during the pandemic.

So why is our political conversation about crime and ‘radical woke’ and ‘the trans agenda’? About the price of groceries—but not about who sets those prices? Well, 1) these are the same groups of people the Nazis blamed for the ‘downfall’ of their country. Marginalized people are always an easy scapegoat for fascists. But also 2) because it is massively profitable for billionaires to fuel political strife. Keep the ordinary people fighting each other instead of pointing the finger at the .1% ruling class who have profiteered from wage theft and price gouging.

Get people to think about who benefits from working class people fighting each other instead of looking at who's stealing all the wealth in their country.

I could go on and on, but you can look this stuff up too. ProPublica & Media Matters are two of my favorite sites and Mother Jones does good reporting as well. As an American, I also read foreign press because they often have better reporting than we do under almost dead American journalism half propped up by self-serving billionaires. Beware the AI search results and news outlets owned by billionaires (almost all of them, but AP is still good)

there are also some soft fascism warning signs I think we all have gotten way too comfortable with, like the massive amounts of tradwife content, along with more and more puritanical ideas in young people, censoring words about sex and queer identity, and slut-shaming. every generation has some kind of feminist trend where, mysteriously, misogynistic reframing pops up to shame women (the bra burnings of the 70s that never happened, man haters, girlboss, ‘i’m just a girl’, etc.)

I know the world right now is exhausting, but we have to push back on this stuff. some of the most overlooked foot soldiers for fascism are women (mostly white women), who uphold the patriarchy + insist women belong in the home submitting to the authority of men.

you all have seen pictures of the infamous Nazi book burning, right? that was the library from Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Science, which was a center devoted to both educating people on sexual health and understanding homosexuality and trying to normalize queer identities. Hirschfeld was one of the earliest voices of the century to advocate for trans rights and trans existence (♥️). the Nazis trashed the building and burned all the books they could find. the first books the Nazis burned were about erasing stigma on sex and sexual orientation. sound familiar?

fascism relies on lying/fearmongering, playing the victim, and violence. call out lies when you hear them or see them. don't argue on their grounds—reframe the argument, like I did there ^ . don't let them play the victim. it's very easy to look up facts about wealth disparity -> social inequality and which groups of people have the most power.

we do not have to normalize fascism.

"Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness."

—Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, published in 1951. She was a historian and philosopher who studied Nazism and Stalinism. She was also, very crucially, a German Jew who escaped the Holocaust.

[halalchampagnesocialist]

In honour of Nakba day, I wanted to make a post reflecting on how the public consensus has changed around Palestine. I think people are right to say that much of the younger generation are sympathising more with Palestinians due to the broadcast of atrocities on social media and receiving news from socials inc. directly from Palestinians in Palestine as opposed to news filtered through mainstream media... but I think there is something else people are missing.

When you have a decades-long "conflict", each era of that "conflict" will be marked by its respective sociopolitical context. Israeli oppression against Palestinians has remained consistent over these decades, although arguably the severity has increased in some respects, but what has changed is the global context.

Of course, the efforts of activists worldwide must be commended, they have done a lot to educate people on the cause and advocate for Palestinians. The Palestinian resistance who are also at the forefront of fighting this oppression are also another reason why we haven't capitulated to normalisation efforts, despite multiple attempts on multipe parts. This movement has been building for a long-time coming and is still building.

But I think right now, we are seeing a more radicalised generation. We are seeing people who grew up around Black Lives Matter, we are seeing the resurgence of fascism and massive shifts to the right, including various right-wing governments around the world. Right now, there's a cost of living crisis amongst many other issues... so of course, American teenagers and university-aged students are going to question why their money is going to Israel instead of being able to afford basic necessities.

Compare that, say, to the second Intifada where many Americans and other Westerners were still in that war-on-terror mindset. When they saw Palestinian suicide bombers, that's all they saw. All they saw were brown Muslim terrorists which was not helped by the extreme dehumanisation of Palestinians already present. They didn't see the context behind what compelled Palestinians to commit these attacks, they did not see the violence that Israel was committing on ordinary Palestinians and killing them daily, including children. Many of them also empathised with Israel because Israel was an American ally, and so everything filtered through mainstream media was favoured towards Israel.

There were probably also similar dynamics at play during the Cold War. The West has always concealed Israel's atrocities to maintain its own interests, but I think we're in an era where people are not romanticising the West anymore and people are fed up with how much their neoliberal governments are failing them, so I think this extends to people empathising more with the oppressed and also being willing to learn more and understand their position.

[misfitwashere]

Tomorrow will be a shameful day

But some reasons for reassurance

ROBERT REICH

JAN 19

Friends,

Before I post my Sunday cartoon I want to share with you some thoughts about tomorrow. 

The day on which we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday will also be one of the darkest and most shameful days in the history of this nation, when the man who attempted a coup against the United States will be sworn in for the second time as president. 

Let me reassure you about a few things. 

First, if you’re outraged, disgusted, or depressed by this, you are hardly alone. 

Even though Trump got the most votes, his margin of victory was razor-thin. More than a third of eligible voters (many of whom voted for Biden in 2020) didn’t even vote. According to yesterday’s New York Times/Ipsos poll, most Americans are either worried or pessimistic about Trump’s second term. Half of America hates him. 

I also want to assure you that although Trump is bonkers, his madness will be contained. 

The federal courts — most of whose judges were nominated by Democratic presidents — will help limit his illegal or unconstitutional recklessness. (The Supreme Court reviews fewer than 1 percent of federal cases.)

Trump’s own obsession with the stock market will limit his wilder economic ideas, such as imposing tariffs on all nations, which would cause the market to plunge.

The Republican majority in the House is so narrow that a couple of members can derail or kill anything Trump wants. 

I’m also confident that the essential goodness and common sense of the American people will limit his cruelty — such as splitting up families and putting undocumented people into concentration camps. 

We will come to the aid of our communities. We will protect the vulnerable. We will resist Trump’s efforts to prosecute his political enemies. 

We will not compromise with fascism. We will continue to fight for the rule of law, for social justice, for equal opportunity, for democracy. 

I predict a large political backlash against Trump starting with the 2026 midterm elections. (I will get into this in tomorrow’s letter to you.)

I don’t want to sound like a pollyanna. I’m aware of how dangerous the next few years could be. But I’m old enough to have seen this nation at its best and at its worst. I remember Joe McCarthy. I remember Richard Nixon. 

We are a resilient people. We will get through this scourge. 

Finally and on a more personal note, I want to thank you for your support of this daily letter. Your enthusiasm, your comments, and your sharing of it reassure me that it remains a worthwhile endeavor. In these coming dark times — as long as I am able — it will continue.

[achrilock-aether]

If you are concerned about the fascism, and you don’t have experience with confronting the fascism, you are probably wondering what to do, what you can do, what you should do, if you should even do anything. There’s lots of people out there answering those questions for you.

Don’t try and internalize all that stuff immediately, unless it feels right to you. To say that the left is not monolithic is an earth-shatteringly understated way of putting it. And the truth behind the brave façade is that most of us wrestle with those questions every day, even after years.

Important things to remember, tho. You might get got, but if you don’t confront fascism you are stuck with the consequences. And nobody’s safe from fascism. Doesn’t matter how white you are, or even if you choose to repeat the slogans and dogmas. Tyranny comes for everyone, eventually.

Now, if ur soul is dead and you don’t really give a shit anymore (some of us are pretty much there), consider the impact it will have on other people. Family, friends, loved ones, adorable kids and animals. The plush bear body count alone will again likely be legendary. Your actions affect everyone.

And to that point, whatever you decide to do, how you decide to involve yourself in the struggle against oppression, you need to try and stay consistent with your core morals, not the ones somebody else is trying to feed you. And you need to reevaluate, second guess, consider, every day. Forever.

You don’t have to be a black-clad antifa super soldier out fighting Caesar’s Legion on the frontier. You don’t have to get in trouble (in fact, regardless of what you’re doing, you should avoid that… we like people who don’t get captured… ‘cause it does nobody any good).

There’s a million ways to support victims, marginalized people, oppressed people, scapegoats, prisoners, demonstrations, direct actions, and movements. Moral support and boosting go a long way. There’s also logistics, legal support, intelligence, babysitting, pity fucks. All sorts of things.

Point is, the black-clad street super soldiers are the ring on the fist that punches nazis and oppressors of all kinds. There’s millions of people behind them, doing a million different things. It’s not hierarchical, and you will learn how it works as you participate. You will find your niche.

The point is to decide to do ‘something.’ That’s where the courage comes from. Anything that you are competent in and that you are morally comfortable with in the long term, things that reflect well on those resisting alongside you, things that keep people safe.

Understand that you are not alone. You are part of a much larger whole, both in the here and now and across time. Fighting oppression is a family without physical or temporal limits. It’s huge, it’s everywhere, and you can be a part of it, too. There are no small parts. It’s all the same thing.

Jump in, keep your wits, and learn as you go. There is no wrong kind of antifascist, if your heart is where it should be. We all different. And that’s a very good thing, as it is why we win every time, and it is the very thing that we are fighting against fascism for, right after saving people.

One final thought. A lot of people are saying that we should ignore the daily rage machine signaling, because it’s a distraction, it’s ineffectual, and because no one else is really coming to save us. These takes are valid and we should not allow this daily noise to consume us or our efforts.

That being said, it is important to watch, listen, internalize, understand, deconstruct, and call out bad behavior or decay in the fabric of our communities and our society. It is important to remember what baseline was, even if baseline was ass.

Doing so is a wall against the fascist sea of blood. It is our collective memory. It is also the engine that allows us all to think, plan, coordinate, and act as a whole without the necessity of centralization or hierarchy. Spreading knowledge and understanding is always a helpful action.

Alright, that’s all I got. If you don’t know what to do, where to begin, or even if you should begin, TALK TO SOMEONE. Ask questions, form bonds, even if it’s just over a coffee, a beer, or a game or whatever. Your connections to other people are what will save you and others. No one survives alone.

[hoursofreading]

While embracing the individualism of life choices, a politics of joy rejects the late 20th century form of liberal individualism built around a cartoonish over-emphasis on personal responsibility. Individuals should be respected in their decisions and responsible for their outcomes, but we must also recognize the deeply interdependent nature of contemporary society and the fact that each of our abilities to succeed in the pursuit of our values is dependent on others doing their part. As Elizabeth Anderson pointed out in 1999 and Barack Obama noted in 2012, my ability to conduct my research and teaching is dependent not only on my own efforts but also on the contributions of the laborer who paves the roads I use to get to work, the grocery clerk who stocks the shelves where I shop, and the farmworker who harvests the foods that I eat. This recognition of our interdependence grounds an appreciation for and desire to create and maintain real communities of care. It is built on an acknowledgment that needing and asking for help is not weakness but an expression of our common humanity, which can likewise be expressed by looking after each other, both within our personal commitments and interactions but also via humane social policies that seek to lift everyone up. Similarly, a politics of joy seeks to reclaim the mantle of “freedom” from those who associate it with the freedom of employers and businesses to exploit their workers and to foist the externalities of their businesses onto society. It is a rejection of overwork culture and the idea that individuals should organize their lives around how they can make themselves more useful to their boss or the company which pays them. Rather, freedom entails an ability to exist and find meaning in our lives outside of work, to have play and rest and community, to have the ability to be healthy. And most fundamentally, a politics of joy takes freedom as the ability to live the lives that we choose for ourselves, embracing our identities without shame, surrounded by the people we love without persecution or the denial of our basic rights. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a politics of joy is fundamentally grounded in the ability to imagine a better world and a willingness to work to bring that world into being. It is a rejection of the all-consuming orientation of the contemporary right towards the world as a place of fear and loathing, of a mentality  of “us versus them,” of constant hypervigilance and doom.  Judgment, hatred, and fear are easy attitudes to have. We are taught from a young age to separate ourselves from others based on our differences, to attach meaning to those differences and to see “different” as therefore “less than.” Looking for the best in people, situations, and values that we don’t identify with and practicing and sustaining hope and joy is difficult. It requires daily effort. It is the values contained in a politics of joy that motivate those efforts, and to which we should hold our elected officials if we hope to prevail in the fight against fascism.

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 9 September 1934, over 100,000 Londoners flooded Hyde Park to protest against a rally by fascist leader Oswald Mosley. Despite there being two police officers to guard each fascist, Mosley's words could not be heard as they were drowned out by the anti-fascists, who then chased the Nazis out of the park. Some of the right-wing press in the UK, like the Daily Mail, supported Mosley and his fascist blackshirts, while the rest of the press and the BBC supported his right to "free speech", inviting him to speak and advertise his rally but failing to mention the planned counter-demonstration or allow opponents a platform. So workers took publicising their protest into their own hands. Rail workers painted "March against fascism on September 9" on the front of one of their trains, while delivery workers pasted advertisements for the protest on the side of crates transporting goods to factories and others seized microphones at big cinemas, announcing the protest to the audiences. Thousands of leaflets calling on Londoners to march were thrown from the roof of Selfridge's department store, as well as shops, buses and government offices, while Nelson's column was painted and banners promoting the demonstration were hung from the Law Courts and the BBC HQ. The publicity effort was so extensive, newspapers were forced to report on it, and the liberal Observer lamented that "it looks as though the counter-demonstration will be nothing like as small as might be desirable in the circumstances". Learn more about the fight against Mosley in the 1940s in our podcast series: https://workingclasshistory.com/2020/02/17/e35-37-the-43-group/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1523931361125342/?type=3

[yobaba30]

A beautifully written statement by Robert Redford:

“I have a lot of vivid memories of growing up in Los Angeles in the 1940s, but one in particular keeps coming back to me today, in these troubled times. I remember sitting with my parents -- actually, my parents were sitting; I was lying on the floor, the way kids do -- and listening to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt talking to us over the radio. He was talking to the nation, of course, not just to us, but it sure felt that way. He was personal and informal, like he was right there in our living room.I was too young to follow much of what he was saying -- something about World War II. But what I did understand was that this was a man who cared about our well-being. I felt calmed by his voice. It was a voice of authority and, at the same time, empathy.

Americans were facing a common enemy -- fascism -- and FDR gave us the sense that we were all in it together. Even kids like me had a role to play: participating in paper drives, collecting scrap metal, doing whatever we could do. That's what it was like to have a president with a strong moral compass. It guided him, gave him direction, and helped him point the nation toward a better future.Maybe this strikes you as simple nostalgia. I've got a touch of that, sure (who doesn't right now?). But I'm too focused on the future to sit around pining for the old days.

For me, the power of FDR's example is what it says about the kind of leadership America needs -- and can have again, if we choose it.But one thing is clear: Instead of a moral compass in the Oval Office, there's a moral vacuum. Instead of a president who says we're all in it together, we have a president who's in it for himself. Instead of words that uplift and unite, we hear words that inflame and divide. When someone retweets (and then deletes) a video of a supporter shouting "white power" or calls journalists "enemies of the state," when he turns a lifesaving mask against contagion into a weapon in a culture war, when he orders the police and the military to tear gas peaceful protestors so he can wave a Bible at the cameras, he sacrifices -- again and again -- any claim to moral authority.

Another four years of this would degrade our country beyond repair. The toll it's taking is almost biblical: fires and floods, a literal plague upon the land, an eruption of hatred that's being summoned and harnessed, by a leader with no conscience or shame. Four more years would accelerate our slide toward autocracy. It would be taken as free license to punish more so-called "traitors" and wage more petty vendettas -- with the full weight of the Justice Department behind them.

Four more years would mean open season on our environmental laws. The assault has been ongoing -- it started with abandoning the historic agreement that the world made in Paris to combat climate change, and continued, just last month, with using the pandemic as cover to let industries pollute as they see fit.

Four more years would bring untold damage to our planet -- our home.America is still a world power. But in the past four years, it has lost its place as a world leader. A second term would embolden enemies and further weaken our standing with our friends.When and how did the United States of America become the Divided States of America? Polarization, of course, has deep roots and many sources. President Donald Trump didn't create all of our divisions as Americans. But he has found every fault line in America and wrenched them wide open.Without a moral compass in the Oval Office, our country is dangerously adrift. But this November, we can choose another direction.

This November, unity and empathy are on the ballot. Experience and intelligence are on the ballot. Joe Biden is on the ballot, and I'm confident he will bring these qualities back to White House.I don't make a practice of publicly announcing my vote. But this election year is different. And I believe Biden was made for this moment. Biden leads with his heart. I don't mean that in a soft and sentimental way. I'm talking about a fierce compassion -- the kind that fuels him, that drives him to fight against racial and economic injustice, that won't let him rest while people are struggling.As FDR showed, empathy and ethics are not signs of weakness. They're signs of strength. I think Americans are coming back to that view. Despite Trump -- despite his daily efforts to divide us -- I see much of the country beginning to reunite again, the way it did when I was a kid. You can see it in the peaceful protests of the past several weeks -- Americans of all races and classes coming together to fight against racism. You can see it the ways that communities are pulling together in the face of this pandemic, even if the White House has left them to fend for themselves.These acts of compassion and kindness make our country stronger. This November, we have a chance to make it stronger still -- by choosing a president who is consistent with our values, and whose moral compass points toward justice."

- Robert Redford, July 8, 2020

[politicaltheatre]

Consent

September 2nd.

In any other year we'd be remembering the official - well, "official" - end of World War II, 75 years ago today. Or we'd be learning about it, because 75 is a nice, round number and we like nice, round numbers because they give us the opportunity to remember and learn things.

Obviously, this year is different. Milestones of history have flown by this year, unremembered and unlearnt, and certainly undervalued.

Not that we're so good at learning history, let alone remembering it. No, we're far better at forgetting, at pushing lessons away. We prefer challenging and, especially, uncomfortable things at a distance. That's why we have to work so hard learn and remember, especially in times like these.

September 2nd was the date in 1945 when the Japanese signed the "Instrument of Surrender" on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri. They did so because we had dropped two nuclear bombs on them, the first infamously on Hiroshima and the second, too often overlooked, on Nagasaki.

Two more milestones of history barely given a glance this year. They were the first and so far only nuclear weapons yet used by humanity on humans, and in two horrifying flashes they killed up to 200,000 civilian men, women, and children.

Consent.

A strong case could be made for not having dropped either bomb, certainly not on an inhabited area. The United States already had film of a successful test to share. Think of it, sharing that film with an enemy and inviting its representatives to watch another, live test before demanding that they submit and accept defeat. How genteel. How civilized.

No, this was war. We abandon exactly that best part of ourselves in war. That's why the right wing always tries to push us into war. War pushes us towards short term thinking, short term gains, and short term defenses, all held together by a string of victories as long as you can just hold on.

It doesn't last. It can't. Short term solutions can't solve long term problems. They make them worse. That's why the right wing always loses, and always will. In the long term.

Still, it takes its toll even on the best of us. We become exhausted, physically and emotionally. We just want it to end. Fight long enough and suffer enough, we also want to punish. We want those who have caused us pain to feel it themselves.

So, we dropped "the bomb". We did, the Americans, the "good guys". Two of them. And with the consent of all Americans, 200,000 lives were taken. Like that.

It ended the war. There's no arguing that. And it's not like we were alone in what we did. It was one more atrocity in a war filled with them, each one committed by armies with the consent of civilians.

For the Japanese, there was "The Rape of Nanking", that left a scar so deep you can still see the bones of its victims in Nanjing today. For the citizens of the Soviet Union, there was the Katyn Massacre, which compounded their earlier collusion with the Nazis to divide and consume Poland. Have you heard of the fire-bombing of Dresden, an abomination shared between the British and the United States? All together, these killed 200,000 more. At least.

And then there were the Nazis and their "Final Solution". When Hannah Arendt wrote of the banality of evil, it was this, men and women not merely consenting to genocide and committing it but justifying it by organizing it with corporate precision.

The marriage of fascism and corporate organization was no mere accident of history. They were, in point of fact, born of the same lineage. They are children of colonialism.

The economics of colonialism gave us corporatism. Multinational entities with close ties to governments required organization and legal justification to build and maintain industries rooted in the imbalance of power.

Think of the labor policies of corporate America, of how and why they fight not only to undermine unions but to undermine labor laws. This isn't capitalism, it predates it. Humans have been profiting off of cheap or free labor as long as there have been humans.

All capitalism did was provide an economic means to move commodities from one place to another and to build industries based on far flung resources. Which brings us back to colonies, and slaves.

When we think about slavery - the word, the culture, the cost in human lives - we tend to think of American slavery. It's only natural. In very real ways, we're still fighting the Civil War to this day. To Africans, though, and Asians and South Americans and Australians and Pacific islanders, there is little to distinguish slavery from colonialism.

Labor was forced. The laws, such as they were, favored those in power at the expense of those under their rule. The colonial industries and there friends in government saw to that. In very real ways, those people are still fighting for their freedom to this day, too.

It didn't start with brutality. No. it never does. Colonialism started the way most relationships do. When the colonizers came, they had something to offer, something of value. They had technology. They had the ability to travel great distances. They were something new. They had whatever it was that seemed good in the short term.

It was only as short term grew to long term that the cost of the imbalance of power and what the colonizers would do to maintain it became clear.

Which brings us to what became known as fascism. The colonial era - the late 19th century into the early 20th, in particular - was a period of great technological advancement. That "technology" included methods of controlling "unruly" natives. The colonizers talked to each other, shared ideas, experimented, and found what they hoped would be better, more efficient ways of forcing those natives to accept things as they were.

Of course, they failed. The more effort it takes to force anyone to accept your control over them, the more they want you gone. Eventually, like a star exhausting its fuel, your expansion collapses and things explode.

This is what happened to the colonizers. At least, this is what happened to their colonial occupation. The first World War was fought over colonial possessions. Don't let the stories of trench warfare fool you, it was resources they were fighting over, and the right to control the natives in the countries where those resources could be found.

The countries that held colonies after that war made a killing. The ones that didn't, well, you see where this is going.

Italy had a chance to rule what is now Turkey; the Turks kicked them out. The Germans lost all of their colonial possessions to a group of countries that demanded they pay for the privilege. The Japanese had ambition, but the Europeans and Americans held all the colonies in their own backyard and liked to draw racist caricatures of them.

The appeal of fascism was that it was market tested. Decades of methodology and technology had been tested on local populations and reported on to governments and titans of industry alike.

Soldiers, humiliated by failure in war and having no colonies in which to serve, were easy recruits. Give them certainty and the weapons to force it on others and they'll happily serve.

Throw in a bad economy and national humiliation in the eyes of the world, and you have a sizable portion of your own population ready and willing to see those same methodologies and technologies imported back home for domestic use.

That's what the Italians did. It seemed to work. The trains ran on time. That the leader seemed like a big buffoon didn't matter.

So, the Germans gave it a try. The Nazis weren't going after Germans, anyway. It was all of those "others" they hated: the non-Germans, the intellectuals, the radicals, the deviants, the Jews. If you weren't any of those things, they left you alone. You might even profit from their loss.

And so, the Japanese took it on. It would restore national pride. It would give them purpose. Before long, fascist Japan had expanded their colonial reach from Korea to inland China, and were eager for more.

By the time Spain's generals, lamenting the loss of their own colonial empire and prestige, launched a Nazi-supported civil war, fascism had gone from being a bunch of fringe extremists with guns and pseudo-military costumes to mainstream political movements. The ideas hadn't changed, just the consent of the people they sought to rule.

We all know what happened next, or should. We fought a war, one colonizer against another, just like the last one. The big, big difference was that this time one side was fighting to justify using the brutal methods of colonization on everyone and the other side, our side, was fighting to stop them.

Fascism. That was our justification for "the bomb". We had to fight it. We had to build a bomb so they couldn't, because we knew that if they did they would use it. And because we knew that, we told ourselves that we had to use it. We knew that because we knew them, because we knew what they believed, because we had seen it and bore witness to it, atrocity after atrocity after atrocity committed in its name.

Fascists believed, and still do, that might makes right, that force trumps consent, that apologies are for the weak, and that all must be accountable to them while they must never be held accountable to others.

And here we are, September 2nd, 2020, two months from what may be the most important election in our nation's history, and we are fighting that same fight again.

This time, the methodology and technology have been imported from war zones back to our home for domestic use. In the space of a few decades our police have become militarized and our military are, for purely political purposes, being used as police.

The cheating culture that infested Wall Street and professional sorts has wormed its way so completely into American culture that the corruption we see on a daily basis in Washington is considered normal. Attempt to point it out all you want, if you still have the energy, but Trump's supporters already know.

It isn't that they don't care. Quite the opposite. They love seeing someone getting away with it. That's their fantasy. That's the power they crave: all must be accountable to them while they must never be held accountable to others.

Laws, to them, are for the governed. For the weak. They are not weak. They will not be governed. Does that sound childish to you? It should. It is. That doesn't change the fact that it is the reality we face.

That reality exists because of our consent. We have allowed the bullies in our midst to hold an imbalance of power over us and to abuse others around us in order to do so.

Their victims were always someone else, someone "other", living far away literally and figuratively, far enough away that we could accept whatever it was. It did not affect us.

Only, now it does. It always did, of course, we just had that fantasy to hold onto, the one that it was all so very far away. We had the luxury of putting that distance between it and us, of forgetting. We're good at that. Historically so.

The pushback of the past five years - Black Lives Matter, #metoo, Occupy Wall Street, etc. - only came about because the bullies in our culture had become so emboldened by our collective inaction that they pushed the imbalance of power too far and, like the colonizers before them, triggered their own decline.

What have we seen the past four years in reaction to that? A racist, misogynist, man-child elected president. A Republican Congress passing massive tax cuts for themselves and their friends before giving their president a pass on naked corruption. Deregulation so complete that it will take at least two Democratic administrations with Democratic congresses to undo most of the damage, and that's only if the Republican-appointed judges let them do it. 

And, oh, yes, the callous disregard for human life that has led us both to the politicization of using brutal, military occupation tactics on non-violent, domestic protesters and the avoidable deaths of almost 200,000 Americans from Covid-19. For all the world to see.

If I was a Trump supporter, I'd get a rush just thinking about it. I'd feel like I had permission to do as I please, to harm others if I pleased, to kill as I pleased, because they are "others", other thinking, other looking, other feeling.

That's the thing about fascism. It isn't concentration camps and genocide. It isn't the atrocities of war. It's the profit-driven enabling of man's inhumanity to man. It's the encouraging of it. It's the foundation of it.

That only happens with consent.

- Daniel Ward

[blackkudos]

Paul Robeson

Paul Leroy Robeson ( ROHB-sən; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass baritone concert artist and stage and film actor who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his political activism. Educated at Rutgers College and Columbia University, he was also a star athlete in his youth. He also studied Swahili and linguistics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London in 1934. His political activities began with his involvement with unemployed workers and anti-imperialist students whom he met in Britain and continued with support for the Loyalist cause in the Spanish Civil War and his opposition to fascism. In the United States he also became active in the Civil Rights Movement and other social justice campaigns. His sympathies for the Soviet Union and for communism, and his criticism of the United States government and its foreign policies, caused him to be blacklisted during the McCarthy era.

In 1915, Robeson won an academic scholarship to Rutgers College, where he was twice named a consensus All-American in football, and was the class valedictorian. Almost 80 years later, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He received his LL.B. from Columbia Law School while playing in the National Football League (NFL). At Columbia, he sang and acted in off-campus productions. After graduating, he became a figure in the Harlem Renaissance with performances in The Emperor Jones and All God's Chillun Got Wings.

Between 1925 and 1961, Robeson recorded and released some 276 distinct songs, many of which were recorded several times. The first of these were the spirituals "Steal Away" backed with "Were You There" in 1925. Robeson's recorded repertoire spanned many styles, including Americana, popular standards, classical music, European folk songs, political songs, poetry and spoken excerpts from plays.

Robeson performed in Britain in a touring melodrama, Voodoo, in 1922, and in Emperor Jones in 1925, and scored a major success in the London premiere of Show Boat in 1928, settling in London for several years with his wife Eslanda. While continuing to establish himself as a concert artist, Robeson also starred in a London production of Othello, the first of three productions of the play over the course of his career. He also gained attention in the film production of Show Boat (1936) and other films such as Sanders of the River (1935) and The Proud Valley (1940). During this period, Robeson became increasingly attuned to the sufferings of people of other cultures, notably the British working class and the colonized peoples of the British Empire. He advocated for Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War and became active in the Council on African Affairs (CAA).

Returning to the United States in 1939, during World War II Robeson supported the American and Allied war efforts. However, his history of supporting civil rights causes and pro-Soviet policies brought scrutiny from the FBI. After the war ended, the CAA was placed on the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations and Robeson was investigated during the age of McCarthyism. Due to his decision not to recant his public advocacy, he was denied a passport by the U.S. State Department, and his income, consequently, plummeted. He moved to Harlem and from 1950 to 1955 published a periodical called Freedom which was critical of United States policies. His right to travel was eventually restored as a result of the 1958 United States Supreme Court decision, Kent v. Dulles. In the early 1960s he retired and lived the remaining years of his life privately in Philadelphia.

Early life

1898–1915: Childhood

Paul Leroy Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1898, to Reverend William Drew Robeson and Maria Louisa Bustill. His mother, Maria, was from a prominent Quaker family of mixed ancestry. His father, William, was of Igbo origin and was born into slavery, William escaped from a plantation in his teens and eventually became the minister of Princeton's Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in 1881. Robeson had three brothers: William Drew Jr. (born 1881), Reeve (born c. 1887), and Ben (born c. 1893); and one sister, Marian (born c. 1895).

In 1900, a disagreement between William and white financial supporters of Witherspoon arose with apparent racial undertones, which were prevalent in Princeton. William, who had the support of his entirely black congregation, resigned in 1901. The loss of his position forced him to work menial jobs. Three years later when Robeson was six, his mother, who was nearly blind, died in a house fire. Eventually, William became financially incapable of providing a house for himself and his children still living at home, Ben and Paul, so they moved into the attic of a store in Westfield, New Jersey.

William found a stable parsonage at the St. Thomas A.M.E. Zion in 1910, where Robeson filled in for his father during sermons when he was called away. In 1912, Robeson attended Somerville High School in Somerville, New Jersey, where he performed in Julius Caesar and Othello, sang in the chorus, and excelled in football, basketball, baseball and track. His athletic dominance elicited racial taunts which he ignored. Prior to his graduation, he won a statewide academic contest for a scholarship to Rutgers and was named class valedictorian. He took a summer job as a waiter in Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, where he befriended Fritz Pollard, later to be the first African-American coach in the National Football League.

1915–1919: Rutgers College

In late 1915, Robeson became the third African-American student ever enrolled at Rutgers, and the only one at the time. He tried out for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team, and his resolve to make the squad was tested as his teammates engaged in excessive play, during which his nose was broken and his shoulder dislocated. The coach, Foster Sanford, decided he had overcome the provocation and announced that he had made the team.

Robeson joined the debating team and sang off-campus for spending money, and on-campus with the Glee Club informally, as membership required attending all-white mixers. He also joined the other collegiate athletic teams. As a sophomore, amidst Rutgers' sesquicentennial celebration, he was benched when a Southern team refused to take the field because the Scarlet Knights had fielded a Negro, Robeson.

After a standout junior year of football, he was recognized in The Crisis for his athletic, academic, and singing talents. At this time his father fell grievously ill. Robeson took the sole responsibility in caring for him, shuttling between Rutgers and Somerville. His father, who was the "glory of his boyhood years" soon died, and at Rutgers, Robeson expounded on the incongruity of African Americans fighting to protect America in World War I but, contemporaneously, being without the same opportunities in the United States as whites.

He finished university with four annual oratorical triumphs and varsity letters in multiple sports. His play at end won him first-team All-American selection, in both his junior and senior years. Walter Camp considered him the greatest end ever. Academically, he was accepted into Phi Beta Kappa and Cap and Skull. His classmates recognized him by electing him class valedictorian. The Daily Targum published a poem featuring his achievements. In his valedictory speech, he exhorted his classmates to work for equality for all Americans.

1919–1923: Columbia Law School and marriage

Robeson entered New York University School of Law in fall 1919. To support himself, he became an assistant football coach at Lincoln, where he joined the Alpha Phi Alpha. However, Robeson felt uncomfortable at NYU and moved to Harlem and transferred to Columbia Law School in February 1920. Already known in the black community for his singing, he was selected to perform at the dedication of the Harlem YWCA.

Robeson began dating Eslanda "Essie" Goode and after her coaxing, he gave his theatrical debut as Simon in Ridgely Torrence's Simon of Cyrene. After a year of courtship, they were married in August 1921.

Robeson was recruited by Pollard to play for the NFL's Akron Pros while he continued his law studies. In the spring, Robeson postponed school to portray Jim in Mary Hoyt Wiborg's play Taboo. He then sang in a chorus in an Off-Broadway production of Shuffle Along before he joined Taboo in Britain. The play was adapted by Mrs. Patrick Campbell to highlight his singing. After the play ended, he befriended Lawrence Brown, a classically trained musician, before returning to Columbia while playing for the NFL's Milwaukee Badgers. He ended his football career after 1922, and months later, he graduated from law school.

Theatrical success and ideological transformation

1923–1927: Harlem Renaissance

Robeson worked briefly as a lawyer, but he renounced a career in law due to widespread racism. Essie financially supported them and they frequented the social functions at the future Schomburg Center. In December 1924 he landed the lead role of Jim in Eugene O'Neill's All God's Chillun Got Wings, which culminated with Jim metaphorically consummating his marriage with his white wife by symbolically emasculating himself. Chillun's opening was postponed due to nationwide controversy over its plot.

Chillun's delay led to a revival of The Emperor Jones with Robeson as Brutus, a role pioneered by Charles Sidney Gilpin. The role terrified and galvanized Robeson, as it was practically a 90-minute soliloquy. Reviews declared him an unequivocal success. Though arguably clouded by its controversial subject, his Jim in Chillun was less well received. He deflected criticism of its plot by writing that fate had drawn him to the "untrodden path" of drama and the true measure of a culture is in its artistic contributions, and the only true American culture was African-American.

The success of his acting placed him in elite social circles and his ascension to fame, which was forcefully aided by Essie, had occurred at a startling pace. Essie's ambition for Robeson was a startling dichotomy to his indifference. She quit her job, became his agent, and negotiated his first movie role in a silent race film directed by Oscar Micheaux, Body and Soul (1925). To support a charity for single mothers, he headlined a concert singing spirituals. He performed his repertoire of spirituals on the radio.

Lawrence Brown, who had become renowned while touring as a pianist with gospel singer Roland Hayes, stumbled upon Robeson in Harlem. The two ad-libbed a set of spirituals, with Robeson as lead and Brown as accompanist. This so enthralled them that they booked Provincetown Playhouse for a concert. The pair's rendition of African-American folk songs and spirituals was captivating, and Victor Records signed Robeson to a contract.

The Robesons went to London for a revival of The Emperor Jones, before spending the rest of the fall on holiday on the French Riviera, socializing with Gertrude Stein and Claude McKay. Robeson and Brown performed a series of concert tours in America from January 1926 until May 1927.

During a hiatus in New York, Robeson learned that Essie was several months pregnant. Paul Robeson Jr. was born in November 1927 in New York, while Robeson and Brown toured Europe. Essie experienced complications from the birth, and by mid-December, her health had deteriorated dramatically. Ignoring Essie's objections, her mother wired Robeson and he immediately returned to her bedside. Essie completely recovered after a few months.

1928–1932: Show Boat, Othello, and marriage difficulties

In 1928, Robeson played "Joe" in the London production of the American musical Show Boat, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. His rendition of "Ol' Man River" became the benchmark for all future performers of the song. Some black critics were not pleased with the play due to its usage of the word "nigger". It was, nonetheless, immensely popular with white audiences. He was summoned for a Royal Command Performance at Buckingham Palace and Robeson was befriended by MPs from the House of Commons. Show Boat continued for 350 performances and, as of 2001, it remained the Royal's most profitable venture. The Robesons bought a home in Hampstead. He reflected on his life in his diary and wrote that it was all part of a "higher plan" and "God watches over me and guides me. He's with me and lets me fight my own battles and hopes I'll win." However, an incident at the Savoy Grill, in which he was refused seating, sparked him to issue a press release describing the insult which subsequently became a matter of public debate.

Essie had learned early in their marriage that Robeson had been involved in extramarital affairs, but she tolerated them. However, when she discovered that he was having another affair, she unfavorably altered the characterization of him in his biography, and defamed him by describing him with "negative racial stereotypes". Despite her uncovering of this tryst, there was no public evidence that their relationship had soured.

The couple appeared in the experimental Swiss film Borderline (1930). He then returned to the Savoy Theatre, in London's West End to play Othello, opposite Peggy Ashcroft as Desdemona. Robeson was the first black actor to play Othello in Britain since Ira Aldridge. The production received mixed reviews which noted Robeson's "highly civilized quality [but lacking the] grand style." Robeson stated the best way to diminish the oppression African Americans faced was for his artistic work to be an example of what "men of my colour" could accomplish rather than to "be a propagandist and make speeches and write articles about what they call the Colour Question."

After Essie discovered Robeson had been having an affair with Ashcroft, she decided to seek a divorce and they split up. Robeson returned to Broadway as Joe in the 1932 revival of Show Boat, to critical and popular acclaim. Subsequently, he received, with immense pride, an honorary master's degree from Rutgers. Thereabout, his former football coach, Foster Sanford, advised him that divorcing Essie and marrying Ashcroft would do irreparable damage to his reputation. Ashcroft and Robeson's relationship ended in 1932, following which Robeson and Essie reconciled, although their relationship was scarred permanently.

1933–1937: Ideological awakening

In 1933, Robeson played the role of Jim in the London production of Chillun, virtually gratis, then returned to the United States to star as Brutus in the film The Emperor Jones, "a feat not repeated for more than two decades in the U.S." His acting in The Emperor Jones—the first film to feature an African American in a starring role—was well received. On the film set he rejected any slight to his dignity, despite the widespread Jim Crow atmosphere in the United States. Upon returning to England he publicly criticized African Americans' rejection of their own culture. Despite negative reactions from the press, such as a New York Amsterdam News retort that Robeson had made a "jolly well [ass of himself]", he also announced that he would reject any offers to perform European opera because the music had no connection to his heritage.

In early 1934 Robeson enrolled in the School of Oriental and African Studies, a constituent college of the University of London, where he studied Phonetics, Swahili and other African languages. His "sudden interest" in African history and its impact on culture coincided with his essay "I Want to be African", wherein he wrote of his desire to embrace his ancestry.

His friends in the anti-imperialism movement and association with British socialists led him to visit the Soviet Union. Robeson, Essie, and Marie Seton traveled to the Soviet Union on an invitation from Sergei Eisenstein in December 1934. A stopover in Berlin enlightened Robeson to the racism in Nazi Germany and, on his arrival in Moscow, in the Soviet Union, Robeson said, "Here I am not a Negro but a human being for the first time in my life ... I walk in full human dignity." Waldemar ("Wally") Hille, who subsequently went on to do arrangements on the People's Songs Bulletin, got his start as an early touring pianist for Robeson.

He undertook the role of Bosambo in the movie Sanders of the River (1935), which he felt would render a realistic view of colonial African culture. Sanders of the River made Robeson an international movie star; but the stereotypical portrayal of a colonial African was seen as embarrassing to his stature as an artist and damaging to his reputation. The Commissioner of Nigeria to London protested the film as slanderous to his country, and Robeson thereafter became more politically conscious of his roles. He appeared in the play Stevedore at the Embassy Theatre in London in May 1935, which was favorably reviewed in The Crisis by Nancy Cunard, who concluded: "Stevedore is extremely valuable in the racial–social question—it is straight from the shoulder". In early 1936, he decided to send his son to school in the Soviet Union to shield him from racist attitudes. He then played the role of Toussaint Louverture in the eponymous play by C.L.R. James at the Westminster Theatre, and appeared in the films Song of Freedom, Show Boat (both 1936), My Song Goes Forth, King Solomon's Mines. and was the narrator of the documentary Big Fella (all 1937). In 1938, he was named by American Motion Picture Herald as the 10th most popular star in British cinema.

1937–1939: Spanish Civil War and political activism

Robeson believed that the struggle against fascism during the Spanish Civil War was a turning point in his life and transformed him into a political activist. In 1937, he used his concert performances to advocate the Republican cause and the war's refugees. He permanently modified his renditions of "Ol' Man River" – initially, by singing the word "darkies" instead of "niggers"; later, by changing some of the stereotypical dialect in the lyrics to standard English and replacing the fatalistic last verse ("Ah gits weary/ An' sick of tryin'/ Ah'm tired of livin'/ An skeered of dyin'") with an uplifting verse of his own ("But I keep laffin'/ Instead of cryin'/ I must keep fightin'/ Until I'm dyin'") – transforming it from a tragic "song of resignation with a hint of protest implied" into a battle hymn of unwavering defiance. His business agent expressed concern about his political involvement, but Robeson overruled him and decided that contemporary events trumped commercialism. In Wales, he commemorated the Welsh people killed while fighting for the Republicans, where he recorded a message that became his epitaph: "The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative."

After an invitation from J.B.S. Haldane, he traveled to Spain in 1938 because he believed in the International Brigades's cause, visited the hospital of the Benicàssim, singing to the wounded soldiers. Robeson also visited the battlefront and provided a morale boost to the Republicans at a time when their victory was unlikely. Back in England, he hosted Jawaharlal Nehru to support Indian independence, whereat Nehru expounded on imperialism's affiliation with Fascism. Robeson reevaluated the direction of his career and decided to focus on the ordeals of "common people", He appeared in the pro-labor play Plant in the Sun, in which he played an Irishman, his first "white" role. With Max Yergan, and the CAA, Robeson became an advocate in the aspirations of African nationalists for political independence.

Robeson also developed a sympathy for China's side in the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1940, the Chinese progressive activist, Liu Liangmo taught Robeson the patriotic song "Chee Lai!" ("Arise!"), known as the March of the Volunteers. Robeson memorized the words in Chinese. Robeson premiered the song at a large concert in New York City's Lewisohn Stadium and recorded it in both English and Chinese for Keynote Records in early 1941. Its 3-disc album included a booklet whose preface was written by Soong Ching-ling, widow of Sun Yat-sen, Robeson gave further performances at benefits for the China Aid Council and United China Relief at their sold-out concert at Washington's Uline Arena on April 24, 1941. The Washington Committee for Aid to China had booked Constitution Hall but been blocked by the Daughters of the American Revolution owing to Robeson's race. The indignation was great enough that President Roosevelt's wife Eleanor and Hu Shih, the Chinese ambassador, joined as sponsors. However, when the organizers offered tickets on generous terms to the National Negro Congress to help fill the larger venue, these sponsors withdrew, in objection to the NNC's Communist ties.

Partly because of the favorable international reputation Robeson gave to the song, it became China's National Anthem after 1949. The Chinese lyricist died in a Beijing prison in 1968, but Robeson continued to send royalties to his family.

World War II, the Broadway Othello, political activism, and McCarthyism

1939–1945: World War II and the Broadway Othello

Robeson's last British film was The Proud Valley (1940), set in a Welsh coal-mining town. After the outbreak of World War II, Robeson and his family returned to the United States in 1940, to Enfield, Connecticut, and he became America's "no.1 entertainer" with a radio broadcast of Ballad for Americans. Nevertheless, during a tour in 1940, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel was the only major Los Angeles hotel willing to accommodate him due to his race, at an exorbitant rate and registered under an assumed name, and he therefore dedicated two hours every afternoon to sitting in the lobby, where he was widely recognised, "to ensure that the next time Black[s] come through, they'll have a place to stay." Los Angeles hotels lifted their restrictions on black guests soon afterwards.

Furthermore, the documentary Native Land (1942), which Robeson narrated, was labeled by the FBI as communist propaganda. After an appearance in Tales of Manhattan (1942), a production that he felt was "very offensive to my people", he announced that he would no longer act in films because of the demeaning roles available to blacks.

Robeson participated in benefit concerts on behalf of the war effort and at a concert at the Polo Grounds, he met two emissaries from the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Solomon Mikhoels and Itzik Feffer Subsequently, Robeson reprised his role of Othello at the Shubert Theatre in 1943, and became the first African American to play the role with a white supporting cast on Broadway. During the same period of time, he addressed a meeting with Kenesaw Mountain Landis in a failed attempt to convince him to admit black players to Major League Baseball. He toured North America with Othello until 1945, and subsequently, his political efforts with the CAA to get colonial powers to discontinue their exploitation of Africa were short-circuited by the United Nations.

1946–1949: Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations

After the mass lynching of four African Americans on July 25, 1946, Robeson met with President Truman and admonished Truman by stating that if he did not enact legislation to end lynching, "the Negroes will defend themselves". Truman immediately terminated the meeting and declared that the time was not right to propose anti-lynching legislation. Subsequently, Robeson publicly called upon all Americans to demand that Congress pass civil rights legislation. Taking a stance against lynching, Robeson founded the American Crusade Against Lynching organization in 1946. This organization was thought to be a threat to the NAACP antiviolence movement. Robeson received support from W.E.B. Du Bois regarding this matter and officially launched this organization on the anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, September 23.

About this time, Robeson's belief that trade unionism was crucial to civil rights became a mainstay of his political beliefs as he became a proponent of the union activist Revels Cayton. Robeson was later called before the Tenney Committee where he responded to questions about his affiliation with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) by testifying that he was not a member of the CPUSA. Nevertheless, two organizations with which Robeson was intimately involved, the Civil Rights Congress (CRC) and the CAA, were placed on the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations (AGLOSO). Subsequently, he was summoned before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and when questioned about his affiliation with the Communist Party, he refused to answer, stating: "Some of the most brilliant and distinguished Americans are about to go to jail for the failure to answer that question, and I am going to join them, if necessary."

In 1948, Robeson was preeminent in Henry A. Wallace's bid for the President of the United States, during which Robeson traveled to the Deep South, at risk to his own life, to campaign for him. In the ensuing year, Robeson was forced to go overseas to work because his concert performances were canceled at the FBI's behest. While on tour, he spoke at the World Peace Council, at which his speech was publicly reported as equating America with a Fascist state—a depiction that he flatly denied. Nevertheless, the speech publicly attributed to him was a catalyst for his becoming an enemy of mainstream America. Robeson refused to bow to public criticism when he advocated in favor of twelve defendants, including his long-time friend, Benjamin J. Davis Jr., charged during the Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders.

Robeson traveled to Moscow in June, and tried to find Itzik Feffer. He let Soviet authorities know that he wanted to see him. Reluctant to lose Robeson as a propagandist for the Soviet Union, the Soviets brought Feffer from prison to him. Feffer told him that Mikhoels had been murdered, and he would be summarily executed. To protect the Soviet Union's reputation, and to keep the right wing of the United States from gaining the moral high ground, Robeson denied that any persecution existed in the Soviet Union, and kept the meeting secret for the rest of his life, except from his son. On June 20, 1949, Robeson spoke at the Paris Peace Congress saying that "We in America do not forget that it was on the backs of the white workers from Europe and on the backs of millions of Blacks that the wealth of America was built. And we are resolved to share it equally. We reject any hysterical raving that urges us to make war on anyone. Our will to fight for peace is strong. We shall not make war on anyone. We shall not make war on the Soviet Union. We oppose those who wish to build up imperialist Germany and to establish fascism in Greece. We wish peace with Franco's Spain despite her fascism. We shall support peace and friendship among all nations, with Soviet Russia and the people's Republics." He was blacklisted for saying this in the mainstream press within the United States, including in many periodicals of the Negro press such as The Crisis.

In order to isolate Robeson politically, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) subpoenaed Jackie Robinson to comment on Robeson's Paris speech. Robinson testified that Robeson's statements, "'if accurately reported', were silly'". Days later, the announcement of a concert headlined by Robeson in New York City provoked the local press to decry the use of their community to support "subversives" and the Peekskill Riots ensued.

Later that year, Edward R. Murrow had CBS News colleague Don Hollenbeck contribute to the innovative media-review program CBS Views the Press over the radio network's flagship station WCBS. Hollenbeck discussed Edward U. Condon, Alger Hiss, and Paul Robeson. Regarding Robeson and the Peekskill riots of 27 August 1949, Hollenbeck said that, while most newspapers had covered the riots well, the New York World-Telegram had drawn from sources that disliked Robeson, including The Compass (successor to PM, Hollenbeck's former employer).

1950–1955: Blacklisted

A book reviewed in early 1950 as "the most complete record on college football" failed to list Robeson as ever having played on the Rutgers team and as ever having been an All-American. Months later, NBC canceled Robeson's appearance on Eleanor Roosevelt's television program. Subsequently, the State Department denied Robeson a passport and issued a "stop notice" at all ports because it believed that an isolated existence inside United States borders not only afforded him less freedom of expression but also avenge his "extreme advocacy on behalf of the independence of the colonial peoples of Africa." However, when Robeson met with State Department officials and asked why he was denied a passport, he was told that "his frequent criticism of the treatment of blacks in the United States should not be aired in foreign countries".

In 1951, an article titled "Paul Robeson – the Lost Shepherd" was published in The Crisis although Paul Jr. suspected it was written by Amsterdam News columnist Earl Brown. J. Edgar Hoover and the United States State Department arranged for the article to be printed and distributed in Africa in order to defame Robeson's reputation and reduce his and Communists' popularity in colonial countries. Another article by Roy Wilkins (now thought to have been the real author of "Paul Robeson – the Lost Shepherd") denounced Robeson as well as the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in terms consistent with the anti-Communist FBI propaganda.

On December 17, 1951, Robeson presented to the United Nations an anti-lynching petition titled "We Charge Genocide". The document asserted that the United States federal government, by its failure to act against lynching in the United States, was "guilty of genocide" under Article II of the UN Genocide Convention.

In 1952, Robeson was awarded the International Stalin Prize by the Soviet Union. Unable to travel to Moscow, he accepted the award in New York. In April 1953, shortly after Stalin's death, Robeson penned To You My Beloved Comrade, praising Stalin as dedicated to peace and a guide to the world: "Through his deep humanity, by his wise understanding, he leaves us a rich and monumental heritage." Robeson's opinions about the Soviet Union kept his passport out of reach and stopped his return to the entertainment industry and the civil rights movement. In his opinion, the Soviet Union was the guarantor of political balance in the world.

In a symbolic act of defiance against the travel ban, in May 1952, labor unions in the United States and Canada organized a concert at the International Peace Arch on the border between Washington state and the Canadian province of British Columbia. Robeson returned to perform a second concert at the Peace Arch in 1953, and over the next two years, two further concerts took place. In this period, with the encouragement of his friend the Welsh politician Aneurin Bevan, Robeson recorded a number of radio concerts for supporters in Wales.

1956–1957: End of McCarthyism

In 1956, Robeson was called before HUAC after he refused to sign an affidavit affirming that he was not a Communist. In his testimony, he invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to reveal his political affiliations. When asked why he had not remained in the Soviet Union because of his affinity with its political ideology, he replied, "because my father was a slave and my people died to build [the United States and], I am going to stay here, and have a part of it just like you and no fascist-minded people will drive me from it!" At that hearing, Robeson stated "Whether I am or not a Communist is irrelevant. The question is whether American citizens, regardless of their political beliefs or sympathies, may enjoy their constitutional rights." In 1957, still unable to accept invitations to perform abroad, Paul Robeson sang for audiences in London, where 1,000 concert tickets for his telephone concert at St Pancras Town Hall sold out within an hour, and Wales via the transatlantic telephone cable TAT-1: "We have to learn the hard way that there is another way to sing". An appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States to reinstate his confiscated passport had been rejected, but over the telephone Robeson was able to sing to the 5,000 gathered there as he had earlier in the year to London.

Due to the reaction to the promulgation of Robeson's political views, his recordings and films were removed from public distribution, and he was universally condemned in the U.S press. During the height of the Cold War, it became increasingly difficult in the United States to hear Robeson sing on commercial radio, buy his music or see his films.

In 1956, in the United Kingdom, Topic Records, at that time part of the Workers Music Association, released a single of Robeson singing "Joe Hill", written by Alfred Hayes and Earl Robinson, backed with "John Brown's Body". Joe Hill (1879–1915) was a labor activist in the early 20th century, and "Joe Hill" sung by Robeson is the third favorite choice of British Labour Party politicians on the BBC radio program Desert Island Discs.

Nikita Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalinism at the 1956 Party Congress silenced Robeson on Stalin, although Robeson continued to praise the Soviet Union. In 1956, after public pressure brought a one-time exemption to the travel ban, Robeson performed two concerts in Canada in February, one in Toronto and the other at a union convention in Sudbury, Ontario. That year Robeson, along with close friend W.E.B. Du Bois, compared the anti-Soviet uprising in Hungary to the "same sort of people who overthrew the Spanish Republican Government" and supported the Soviet invasion and suppression of the revolt.

Later years

1958–1960: Comeback tours

1958 saw the publication of Robeson's "manifesto-autobiography" Here I Stand. His passport was restored in June 1958 via Kent v. Dulles, and he embarked on a world tour using London as his base. In Moscow in August 1959, he received a tumultuous reception at the Luzhniki Stadium where he sang classic Russian songs along with American standards. Robeson and Essie then flew to Yalta to rest and spend time with Nikita Khrushchev.

On October 11, 1959, Robeson took part in a service at St. Paul's Cathedral, the first black performer to sing there. On a trip to Moscow, Robeson experienced bouts of dizziness and heart problems and was hospitalized for two months while Essie was diagnosed with operable cancer. He recovered and returned to the UK to visit the National Eisteddfod.

Meanwhile, the State Department had circulated negative literature about him throughout the media in India.

While leading The Royal Shakespeare Company starring as Othello in Tony Richardson's 1959 production at Stratford-upon-Avon, he befriended actor Andrew Faulds, whose family hosted him in the nearby village of Shottery. In 1960, in what was his final concert performance in Great Britain, Robeson sang to raise money for the Movement for Colonial Freedom at the Royal Festival Hall.

In October 1960, Robeson embarked on a two-month concert tour of Australia and New Zealand with Essie, primarily to generate money, at the behest of Australian politician Bill Morrow. While in Sydney, he became the first major artist to perform at the construction site of the future Sydney Opera House. After appearing at the Brisbane Festival Hall, they went to Auckland where Robeson reaffirmed his support of Marxism, denounced the inequality faced by the Māori and efforts to denigrate their culture. Thereabouts, Robeson publicly stated "..the people of the lands of Socialism want peace dearly".

During the tour he was introduced to Faith Bandler who interested the Robesons in the plight of the Australian Aborigines. Robeson, consequently, became enraged and demanded the Australian government provide the Aborigines citizenship and equal rights. He attacked the view of the Aborigines as being unsophisticated and uncultured, and declared, "there's no such thing as a backward human being, there is only a society which says they are backward."

1961–1963: Health breakdown

Back in London, he decided to return to the United States, where he hoped to resume participation in the civil rights movement, stopping off in Africa and Cuba along the way. Essie argued to stay in London, fearing that he'd be "killed" if he returned and would be "unable to make any money" due to harassment by the United States government. Robeson disagreed and made his own travel arrangements, arriving in Moscow in March 1961.

During an uncharacteristically wild party in his Moscow hotel room, Robeson locked himself in his bedroom and attempted suicide by cutting his wrists. Three days later, under Soviet medical care, he told his son that he felt extreme paranoia, thought that the walls of the room were moving and, overcome by a powerful sense of emptiness and depression, tried to take his own life.

Paul Jr. believed that his father's health problems stemmed from attempts by the CIA and MI5 to "neutralize" his father. He remembered that his father had had such fears prior to his prostate operation. He said that three doctors treating Robeson in London and New York had been CIA contractors, and that his father's symptoms resulted from being "subjected to mind depatterning under MK-ULTRA", a secret CIA programme. Martin Duberman wrote that Robeson's health breakdown was probably brought on by a combination of factors including extreme emotional and physical stress, bipolar depression, exhaustion and the beginning of circulatory and heart problems. "[E]ven without an organic predisposition and accumulated pressures of government harassment he might have been susceptible to a breakdown."

Robeson stayed at the Barvikha Sanatorium until September 1961, when he left for London. There his depression reemerged, and after another period of recuperation in Moscow, he returned to London. Three days after arriving back, he became suicidal and suffered a panic attack while passing the Soviet Embassy. He was admitted to the Priory Hospital, where he underwent electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and was given heavy doses of drugs for nearly two years, with no accompanying psychotherapy. During his treatment at the Priory, Robeson was being monitored by the British MI5. Both intelligence services were well aware of Robeson's suicidal state of mind. An FBI memo described Robeson's debilitated condition, remarking that his "death would be much publicized" and would be used for Communist propaganda, necessitating continued surveillance. Numerous memos advised that Robeson should be denied a passport renewal, an obstacle that was likely to further jeopardize his recovery process.

In August 1963, disturbed about his treatment, friends and family had Robeson transferred to the Buch Clinic in East Berlin. Given psychotherapy and less medication, his physicians found him still "completely without initiative" and they expressed "doubt and anger" about the "high level of barbiturates and ECT" that had been administered in London. He rapidly improved, though his doctor stressed that "what little is left of Paul's health must be quietly conserved."

1963–1976: Retirement

In 1963, Robeson returned to the United States and for the remainder of his life lived in seclusion. He momentarily assumed a role in the civil rights movement, making a few major public appearances before falling seriously ill during a tour. Double pneumonia and a kidney blockage in 1965 nearly killed him.

Robeson was contacted by both Bayard Rustin and James Farmer about the possibility of becoming involved with the mainstream of the Civil Rights Movement. Because of Rustin's past anti-Communist stances, Robeson declined to meet with him. Robeson eventually met with Farmer, but because he was asked to denounce Communism and the Soviet Union in order to assume a place in the mainstream, Robeson adamantly declined.

After Essie, who had been his spokesperson to the media, died in December 1965, Robeson moved in with his son's family in New York City. He was rarely seen strolling near his Harlem apartment on Jumel Place [sic], and his son responded to press inquiries that his "father's health does not permit him to perform or answer questions."

In 1968, he settled at his sister's home in Philadelphia. Numerous celebrations were held in honor of Robeson over the next several years, including at public arenas that had previously shunned him, but he saw few visitors aside from close friends and gave few statements apart from messages to support current civil rights and international movements, feeling that his record "spoke for itself". In 1974, he posed for a portrait by artist Kenneth Hari at his sisters home. The portrait was unveiled in 1978 at the Paul Robeson Center at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, where it remains on display. At a Carnegie Hall tribute to mark his 75th birthday in 1973, he was unable to attend, but a taped message from him was played that said: "Though I have not been able to be active for several years, I want you to know that I am the same Paul, dedicated as ever to the worldwide cause of humanity for freedom, peace and brotherhood."

1976: Death, funeral, and public response

On January 23, 1976, following complications of a stroke, Robeson died in Philadelphia at the age of 77. He lay in state in Harlem and his funeral was held at his brother Ben's former parsonage, Mother Zion AME Zion Church, where Bishop J. Clinton Hoggard performed the eulogy. His twelve pall bearers included Harry Belafonte and Fritz Pollard. He was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. According to biographer Martin Duberman, contemporary post-mortem reflections on Robeson's life in "[the] white [American] press..ignored the continuing inability of white America to tolerate a black maverick who refused to bend, ..downplayed the racist component central to his persecution [during his life]", as they "paid him gingerly respect and tipped their hat to him as a 'great American,'" while the black American press, "which had never, overall, been as hostile to Robeson [as the white American press had], opined that his life '...would always be a challenge to white and Black America.'"

Legacy and honors

Early in his life, Robeson was one of the most influential participants in the Harlem Renaissance. His achievements in sport and culture were all the more incredible given the barriers of racism he had to surmount. Robeson brought Negro spirituals into the American mainstream. His theatrical performances have been recognized as the first to display dignity for black actors and pride in African heritage, and he was among the first artists to refuse to play live to segregated audiences.

After McCarthyism, [Robeson's stand] on anti-colonialism in the 1940s would never again have a voice in American politics, but the [African independence movements] of the late 1950s and 1960s would vindicate his anti-colonial [agenda].

Subsequently, in 1945 he received the Spingarn medal from the NAACP. Several public and private establishments he was associated with have been landmarked, or named after him. His efforts to end Apartheid in South Africa were posthumously rewarded in 1978 by the United Nations General Assembly. Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist won an Academy Award for best short documentary in 1980. In 1995, he was named to the College Football Hall of Fame. In the centenary of his birth, which was commemorated around the world, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Robeson is also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame.

As of 2011, the run of Othello starring Robeson was the longest-running production of a Shakespeare play ever staged on Broadway. He received a Donaldson Award for his performance. His Othello was characterised by Michael A. Morrison in 2011 as a high point in Shakespearean theatre in the 20th century.

Robeson left Australia as a respected, albeit controversial, figure and his support for Aboriginal rights had a profound effect in Australia over the next decade.

Robeson archives exist at the Academy of Arts; Howard University, and the Schomburg Center. In 2010, Susan Robeson launched a project by Swansea University and the Welsh Assembly to create an online learning resource in her grandfather's memory.

Robeson connected his own life and history not only to his fellow Americans and to his people in the South, but to all the people of Africa and its diaspora whose lives had been fundamentally shaped by the same processes that had brought his ancestors to America. While a consensus definition of his legacy remains controversial, to deny his courage in the face of public and governmental pressure would be to defame his courage.

In 1976, the apartment building on Edgecombe Avenue in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan where Robeson lived during the early 1940s was officially renamed the Paul Robeson Residence, and declared a National Historic Landmark. In 1993, the building was designated a New York City landmark as well. Edgecombe Avenue itself was later co-named Paul Robeson Boulevard.

In 1978, TASS announced that the Latvian Shipping Company had named one of its new 40,000-ton tankers Paul Robeson in honor of the singer. TASS said the ship's crew established a Robeson museum aboard the tanker.

In 1998, the second SOAS University London halls of residence was named in his honour.

In 2002, a blue plaque was unveiled by English Heritage on the house in Hampstead where Robeson lived in 1929–30.

In 2004, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 37-cent stamp honoring Robeson.

In 2006, a plaque was unveiled in his honour at the SOAS University London

In 2007, the Criterion Collection, a company that specializes in releasing special-edition versions of classic and contemporary films, released a DVD boxed set of Robeson films.

In 2009, Robeson was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

The main campus library at Rutgers University-Camden is named after Robeson, as is the campus center at Rutgers University-Newark. The Paul Robeson Cultural Center is on the campus of Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

In 1972, Penn State established a formal cultural center on the University Park campus. Students and staff chose to name the center for Robeson.

A street in Princeton, New Jersey is named after him. In addition, the block of Davenport Street in Somerville, New Jersey, where St. Thomas AME Zion Church still stands is called Paul Robeson Boulevard.

In West Philadelphia, the Paul Robeson High School, which won 2019 U.S. News & World Report for Best High Schools in Pennsylvania, is also named after him.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Robeson's graduation, Rutgers University named an open-air plaza after him on Friday, April 12, 2019. The plaza, next to the Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus at Rutgers–New Brunswick, features eight black granite panels with details of Robeson's life. Also in 2019, Commercial Avenue in New Brunswick was renamed Paul Robeson Boulevard.

On March 6, 2019, the city council of New Brunswick, New Jersey approved the renaming of Commercial Avenue to Paul Robeson Boulevard.

In popular culture

In 1954, the Kurdish poet Abdulla Goran wrote the poem "Bangêk bo Pol Ropsin" ("A Call for Paul Robeson"). In the same year, another Kurdish poet, Cegerxwîn, also wrote a poem about him, "Heval Pol Robson" ("Comrade Paul Robeson"), which was put to music by singer Şivan Perwer in 1976.

Black 47's 1989 album Home of the Brave includes the song "Paul Robeson (Born to Be Free)", which features spoken quotes of Robeson as part of the song. These quotes are drawn from Robeson's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in June 1956. In 2001, Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers released a song titled "Let Robeson Sing" as a tribute to Robeson, which reached number 19 on the UK singles chart.

In January 1978, James Earl Jones performed the one-man show Paul Robeson, written by Phillip Hayes Dean, on Broadway. This stage drama was made into a TV movie in 1979, starring Jones and directed by Lloyd Richards. At the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, British-Nigerian actor Tayo Aluko, himself a baritone soloist, premiered his one-man show, Call Mr. Robeson: A Life with Songs, which has since toured various countries.

Tom Rob Smith's novel Agent 6 (2012) includes the character Jesse Austin, "a black singer, political activist and communist sympathizer modeled after real-life actor/activist Paul Robeson." Robeson also appears in short fiction published in the online literary magazines the Maple Tree Literary Supplement and Every Day Fiction.

In November 2014, it was reported that film director Steve McQueen's next film would be a biographical film about Paul Robeson. As of 2018, the film has not been made.

On September 7, 2019, Crossroads Theater Company performed Phillip Hayes Dean's play Paul Robeson in the inaugural performance of the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center.

[diarrheaofthekeyboard]

Destroyed

10.4.2020

Day two of “The Crash” and there’s been no improvement as I start typing this. I went through this last year and it’s how I finally went to therapy (I originally wrote that as “ended up”. But that’s my inner failure dialog.) I can’t control my emotions. I’m hot all the time. And well, my ass hurts (I did go to the doctor and changed the cream I’m using. It hurts both more and less). 

I can’t get out from this feeling of impending existential doom. It’s not anyone’s fault and I’m doing everything I can not to take it out on anyone. I want to cry but there’s no tears. I want to kill myself but that’s ridiculous. I want to write or sing or something but I’m embarrassed people will hear/see me do something that’s not perfect. 

Part of this is the internet. I have mostly stopped posting on guitar forums. I unfollowed every politics related poster on Twitter. And I have been unfollowing the source posters of my Facebook friends. Though Facebook pisses me off because you can block any post you want but if it still thinks you want to see it, it’s going to show it to you. 

I’m still reading everything like an addict. And it’s not just the phone. It’s when I’m on the computer too. I need to make an effort on my own behalf to keep a book with me at all times. Yeah, I might only get a page or two here and there and have to read it over later. But I can’t keep exposing myself to human stupidity for a significant portion of my day. 

The guitar stuff is uber stupid. Taylor comes out with a new guitar and these cantankerous fucks who haven’t even seen one in person yet already hate it because of marketing, bracing, wood, you name it, they hate it. Heritage’s new owners commit to changing the line for the better and these assholes either want them to innovate in a way that’s outside of the brand or can’t get over that the headstock doesn’t look like a Gibson. And that’s just the on-topic bullshit stuff that’s been going on for years. Nevermind the thinly veiled politics. I’m just over it. There was a time when there was something to be learned in these places. That time has passed.  

And just because it needs to be said, I have no sympathy. If he dies, he dies. And Pence had better die too, because he’s worse. While I’m at it, religion is just fairy tales told to teach us a lesson or mask political commentary. None of it happened and very few of those people actually lived. Certainly none of them lived as written. So if that’s your basis to vote for impending fascism, and that’s why you won’t wear a mask, or you’re just a “but my freedoms” idiot, you deserve to die too. 

This is all Inner Critic. I hate myself but I hate you more. I actually do think those things and that’s the part of the Inner Critic that is me. But getting red in the face while typing it is not. At this point, I’m just at input overload. With that as my baseline, it’s no wonder I need peace like Frank Black. I sang that song last year when I was at my breaking point and it’s no wonder the first Catholics record has been on my mind the past week. 

Then, last night I had an argument with my wife. Usually our arguments are about me not helping and I’ve made a concerted effort during my unemployment to do more of the daily chores. We’re not talking about huge things here, just daily stuff that needs to be done. I seem to like to do those things at 3am while she does things as they happen. Call that more of not wanting people to see me. 

Yesterday, I was putting away the laundry and she didn’t like how I did it. So she took over and I went to read to our son, who closed the door to his room. She burst in, furious, and went off about how nobody was helping her. I told her I was helping and then she took over. Then I told the boy to wait 15 minutes and went downstairs to do the dishes. So that’s the setup. 

I’m putting the clean dishes from the dishwasher away and my Inner Critic just starts going off. Fuck this, fuck that, fuck it let’s get divorced. Fuck that, let’s walk out on the freeway and get run over by a car. That’ll show her. I mouthed “STOP” as loud as I could while vocalizing nothing. A silent scream. 

This because my wife, who has been trapped in the house for over a week due to asthma and bad air quality, is going stir crazy. As you can imagine, she apologized later, and I apologized as well. We agreed we aren’t mind readers and need feedback before things explode. That’s how we’ve made it nearly 15 years. That’s how we’ll get through the next 15. We held each other for a long time. 

The thing that bothered her most about the exchange was it happened in front of our son. He hates conflict and just wants everyone to be happy. She has flashbacks to her father screaming at her, and apparently, he was intimidating and sometimes physical, though I don’t think he ever left a mark. That said, those are traumatizing memories and she doesn’t want to pass those kinds of things onto our son. If you’ve read anything here before, you know I don’t want to either. My parents probably still spanked me at his age. And there was lots of yelling all the time. But they never left a mark either. 

So she was more worried about him seeing us fight than anything else. And in my mind, yes there were raised voices, but there was no screaming. There was no cursing. There were no threats. There was “I hear you and I want to resolve this with you”. We de-escalated, we hugged, she stripped and made the bed, I did the dishes, and I went back into the boy’s room to read to him again and put him to bed. We agreed that we do make an effort not to argue in front of him. We can’t hold it in and let it explode later when that’s supposed to be downtime for everyone. If he never sees us disagree about anything then he’ll not only have a false sense of who we are, but won’t have an example of how we resolved conflict with our loved ones as an example. Those things matter. 

So the situation is resolved and I’m still beating myself up about nothing today. And the only thing I have is this is my version of stir crazy. But instead of getting micromanagey and taking it out on others, I lock myself in a small room with no natural light, and stew until my inner dialog turns on me. This is why walking has been such a help. And I haven’t been able to do it recently because it smells like smoke outside. 

This afternoon, the AQI finally dropped into the moderate range. So we ran errands. And all of us kinda went crazy walking around Target. It was just good to get out of the house. We came back and the boy and I played whiffleball. We came back and my new neighbor accused me of leaving a note on his car about parking, which I didn’t do, nor do I care about. That got my temperature to rise. I wrote a new riff with my new partial capo, this time on the A side instead of the E side. Then I beat myself up because my timing wasn’t spot on with the metronome. 

We ate dinner and I helped the boy get ready for bed. Part of that was it was his turn to read. He saw the word “sit”, guessed at what it was, and gave up. I told him to sound it out and he said “sat”. I said “no, but close, replace a with i” and he just flopped over and said he couldn’t do it. So I told him “ok, well, I’m disappointed you just gave up. Say goodnight to your mother and go to sleep if you won’t try.” He did, and on his way back up the stairs, he asked me if I was mad. I said no, but I was disappointed. To which he replied, “do you still love me?” I said, “of course I still love you. Nobody is perfect and you can’t know everything on the first try. I’m here to help you but you have to put in the effort too. Mommy and I will never stop loving you” That seemed agreeable to him. He went to his room, I picked Ralph Towner’s “Anthem” for him to listen to, and he fell asleep. 

It’s really interesting to me how writing this has brought me a sense of calm. Not because it hasn’t in the now three months I’ve been writing. Because, like everything else, it took me so long to do it. I never wanted people to see any of this and only post it because of the anonymity of it all. Maybe someone will get something out of it. The simple act of getting it all out really does help. It’s not pretty, not well written, and just a document of triggers and the reactions of my negative inner dialog. If you read this and say “yo, this dude is fucking stupid” well that’s the point. It is all stupid. But it’s pent up stupidity that’s been trying to kill me for my entire life. I may not be able to prevent the Inner Critic from speaking, but I can slowly deflate and weaken him over time.

[theculturedmarxist]

A black and white portrait of Che Guevara casts a watchful eye over a room adorned with socialist memorabilia from all over the world. A sculpture of two giant marble fists bound by a broken metal chain inscribed with the name “Marinaleda” has pride of place on a grand wooden desk. Behind it sits a small, bearded man wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf and a multicoloured shirt. His name is Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, mayor of the last communist town in Spain.

“Capitalism is like King Midas,” he tells me, “everything it touches turns to gold, commodity, trade and death. I think the capitalist system is necrophilous.”

The 70-year-old has run Marinaleda, near Seville, for almost 40 years, having spent decades fighting the system to create his “utopian” village. Many are starting to question whether this “paradise” will last much longer, after the Socialist PSOE failed to gain an absolute majority in Andalusia’s regional elections in December – for the first time in history. For four decades, Marinaleda has been granted free rein under the Socialists but that would not be guaranteed under a right-wing coalition, which could soon be formed between the Partido Popular, Ciudadanos and far-right party Vox.

Perhaps surprisingly, some 44 people in the town voted for the extreme right party, which won its first ever seats in parliament. But it will probably take more than Vox’s 12 seats to topple Europe’s last communist outpost, which has been a unique success story for decades.

As unemployment stands at 22.9 per cent in Andalusia, only 4 per cent of Marinaleda’s 3,000 citizens are out of work and that is mostly “their choice”. Every civilian is offered a job with the same salary and a house with a mortgage of just €15 (£13.50) a month, while the total cost is deducted if the occupant helps towards building and upkeep.

The town’s success lies in a cooperative where villagers work in the fields or factory to earn €47 for a six-and-a-half-hour working day, bringing in €1,200 a month. Even the unemployed receive €400 from Andalusia’s regional government each month. Although large companies and chains are not permitted, the mayor insists he does not stand in the way of small businesses.

As well as 352 hectares of olive groves, Marinaleda also cultivates broccoli, artichokes, broad beans and peppers, which are jarred at the factory and distributed across the country, creating a year-round harvest.

“The more vegetables we cultivate, the more work we create,” says Sánchez Gordillo. “The money from sales is reinvested into the town to improve the community. It is never for anyone’s personal profit. The land is for anyone who wants it.“

Marinaleda’s journey to utopia began after years of deep repression under General Franco’s harsh fascist regime, when Sánchez Gordillo saw “hunger reach the stomachs of many labourer families” with an unemployment rate of 80 per cent.

Four decades later, El Sindicato de Obreros del Campo (The Union of Farm Workers) was born, leading to the first democratic elections held in Spain – in 1979 – since the collapse of the Republican government. The workers’ collective CUT (Colectivo de Unidad de los Trabajadores) gained an absolute majority in Marinaleda and at the age of 30, Sánchez Gordillo was elected mayor – a position he has upheld ever since. 

But “La Lucha” (the fight) would plague the town for another decade as the CUT attempted to take political control over Marinaleda, by staging a 700-strong “hunger strike against hunger”. For more than 90 days Marinaleda villagers occupied the Cortijo de los Humosos, a farmhouse owned by a wealthy duke who left its vast fields uncultivated while families starved. Daily, the Guardia Civil violently expelled them, and daily they returned.

Finally, seven years later, the Andalusian government granted them the land and Marinaleda has never looked back. Now the rustic farmhouse bears the proud words: “This land belongs to all the unemployed labourers of Marinaleda.”

“After all this, we know there is nothing you can’t achieve. Even your wildest dream can become a reality,” says Sánchez Gordillo as we gaze up at a decaying wall painting reading “Tierra Utopia”.

And it is not just local Andalusians who have looked for paradise in this small corner of Spain. Christopher Burke is one of the six British residents living in Marinaleda. The 70-year-old Liverpudlian moved to the town eight years ago with his wife after falling in love with the community spirit during a holiday.

“This place grabs your heart, people are so kind and it’s not about money here,” he says. “It’s great to be part of something that has a different outlook on society and see whether this system is actually achievable. I would say it definitely is.”

He smiles as he tells me how locals regularly pop over with freshly baked bread and recounts stories of the town’s festivals, where even the mayor waits on tables. If it were not for Brexit, Burke says he would never go back to the UK. “If we lose healthcare in Spain I’m absolutely done for because I have glaucoma. It’s a big problem,” he says.

And it seems the town’s folk are also content. As the sweltering sun beats down on us in the lush green fields, young farmer, Alba Martin tells me she has no plans to leave after experiencing life in the outside world.

“The work here is fairer than in other places in Spain,” says the 24-year-old Marinaleda native, speaking from bad experience in Mallorca where she was crippled by her €600-a-month income. “Life is relaxing here, you live well, you’re paid well and above all, things are cheap. The workers are really looked after here.”

Picking broad beans beside her is 42-year-old Antonio Casares, who returned to his native town six years ago after working in construction in Barcelona, Ibiza and others parts of Andalusia. He too worked for a “miserable” salary of €600.

“You can’t live on that,” says Casares, whose wife and teenage daughter work alongside him in the fields. “I had to come back at the beginning of the economic crisis when everything became so expensive. The working days are a lot shorter and life is better here, you feel protected.”

Casares believes in Marinaleda’s model as it has provided almost everyone with a job and he says it’s all thanks to the mayor, who is voted in with an overwhelming majority every year. “If it weren’t for him, we would not have this,” he says gesturing towards Sánchez Gordillo, who is quietly eating freshly picked beans across the field.

It is clear the town’s folk greatly respect the mayor, who was allegedly the subject of multiple assassination attempts by the Guardia Civil for his political protests. He makes time for everyone he bumps into on the street, as they gossip and ask for advice like a close friend. Time, it seems, is not an issue in Marinaleda.

A history teacher until four years ago, Sánchez Gordillo lives on a modest street of small terraced houses. It is well known he has never taken a mayor’s salary and earns the same as everyone else.

“I don’t think anyone is more important than others,” he tells me after asking to be called by his first name as he finds it more “comfortable”.

During the throws of the recession, the revolutionary made international headlines after leading his union to raid supermarkets to provide food for the hungry. Many called him a “Robin Hood”, others a robbing troublemaker.

“The true thief is capitalism,” he insists. “It is a thief of human rights. Europe is the biggest food importer in the world, yet it is throwing its farmers and labourers into bankruptcy.”

And what would he say to people who call him a rebel? “Well I am a rebel,” he responds with a mischievous smile. “Rules are made to be broken.”

Yet when rules are broken in police-free Marinaleda, civilians face nothing more than a stern word from the mayor. “We do not punish anyone. Education is better than repression,” he insists.

However, Burke is concerned some take advantage of the lenient laws of the village.

“Sometimes there’s too much licence for people to do whatever they please,” he says. “Because it has a reputation of having no police, it can attract people buying and selling drugs from other places – like a mini drug market.” 

Although Marinaleda is dubbed communist, the mayor describes it as a melting pot of ideologies – socialism, communism and humanism. He draws inspiration from the likes of Gandhi, Lenin, Marx and, of course, Che Guevara. Unlike strict communist models, he believes this watered-down version can work anywhere in the modern world.

“The main objective should be to conserve public property, such as land, housing and energy,” he explains. “There needs to be a direct exchange between the producer and the consumer, with no private business in the middle. If we continue to be ruled by money and by the selfishness and criminality of the global market, we will be on our way to the Third World War.

“The global system right now is just a new type of fascism,” he adds, while admitting that his “utopian” model is difficult to achieve as many don’t like sharing their wealth or possessions.

As the threat of the right looms like a dark cloud over Marinaleda and with elderly Sánchez Gordillo facing recent severe health problems, there is one question many do not want to confront: what will happen when he is no longer there?

“It’s the $64,000 question,” says Burke. “People want it to carry on but he is the central pillar. There’s no obvious successor.”

And it is too early to know if the mayor’s only son, aged seven, will continue his legacy.

Only Sánchez Gordillo is not worried.

“This is a collective effort,” he says simply. “I’m not sure what will happen but I would like the project to be continued for a future of solidarity. And I have faith it will.”

[sortblog]

Nørrebro Pride

It is difficult to know where to begin. It is difficult for me to know what to say and where to start. 

Last year Andrea Coloma and Cecilie Viet drank too much wine and hyped each other enough with talks about marching down Nørrebro. These beautiful people were tired and wanted something new. And I was tired too and foolish enough to join them. Last year we were overwhelmed by your power – but this year! Holy shit!

This year – please put your hand up! Give your self a round of applause. This year a lot of people are coming together. This is something else now. There has been so much effort into the community kitchen, to the security team, to outreach, to meeting with different groups the past six months. There are many lessons we have learnt organising this year, are learning right now, and have to continue to learn for this to continue. Thank you. 

And there’s a reason that you’re here; there is a reason why I am here. First of all, Pride is political! Queer and trans folk face hardships – both locally and globally. Isolated from families we create our own. For wanting to live in the bodies that we desire; for wanting a world in which we can desire, we are shamed, silenced, institutionalised, sterilised, assaulted, raped, and killed – either by others or the straight world order leading us to kill ourselves at extreme rates. Sometimes going outside is the hardest: being reminded of what limited place you have. Even if I am privileged I am reminded that the public is a hetero public, it is a white public – this was made totally clear to me just days ago when a man told in the calmest voice that if only I followed him, he and his friends could burn me alive – with no police watching he added. Repeatedly he told me of his intended crime. Repeatedly I witnessed how no one intervened. Repeatedly I was reminded that my black body, my black queer trans body is a body that can always be transgressed and don’t belong in this world. Reminded that I do not know how old I will get, faced with the reality that way too many black trans and gender non-conforming folks do not live to see 40. 

What ever reasons you have felt to come here today; whether it is to grieve loved ones you have lost or the lives that you cannot yet live; if it is to be joyous with friends and comrades; or you do not yet know why you’re here –  know that you belong, on this earth. That you deserve to belong here. 

But there are also other reasons why we are here. 

Nørrebro is a battlefield. It is one of several places politicians like to legislate on and against. When the government legislates against the homeless it’s also about the people here in Nørrebro; when the government makes squatting illegal it’s about the political extra-parliamentary movements in Nørrebro; when the government and police agree on stop-and-searching and special zones it is about brown and black boys in Nørrebro; when the government wants to privatise and limit social housing it’s about controlling Nørrebro & Nordvest (Gellerup, Vollsmose, etc); when it allows for Rasmus Paludan to be paraded around it is about provoking Nørrebro, and earning cheap political points in the rest of this fucking racist country; when the government legislates against muslim women wearing the veil it is concerned with Nørrebro. We could go on.

How the government acts when it sees Nørrebro and other places like it, is nothing short of fascism; a place infested with brown and black people and migrants who should be deported, vilified and discriminated against; a place where working-class communities are to be punished with higher rents and costs of living and cuts to social infrastructure. Until all of Copenhagen is free of single-mothers, muslim women and men, the sick and homeless folks, working-class folks and impoverished folks, black and brown folks, the government will not rest. The government wants many of us – some more than others – gone, and this neighbourhood turned into a paradise for the white middle- and upper classes. 

It does not make sense to talk about what Nørrebro Pride is – because it is nothing yet –  but all of the things it wants to be and could be.

Nørrebro Pride wants to be anti-commercial and anti-gentrification, but for this to happen we have to find ways of making sure businesses don’t just pinkwash themselves with our lives, but also to make sure that everyone – with or without papers – in this neighbourhood, in this city, in this country have access and the right to housing, transport, health care, safety, and workers rights. If we want a Pride which takes gentrification seriously, we have to think of how to stop global capital mangement funds like Blackstone’s undercover assault on the neighbourhood, as well as be ready to put our bodies on the line when people in Mjølnerparken soon will be evicted. We need to prevent and stop this.

Nørrebro Pride wants Black people, Indigenous people and People of Colour to the front, but, as it was stressed during the community kitchen thursday, must acknowledge the limits of this when even marginalised communities aren’t even equal between each other; when anti-Blackness runs through society and every community; when Greenland is still colonised; when Denmark sold 100.000 black caribbean people to the USA, who still cannot vote to this day; when muslim communities are targeted daily; when adoptees are ignored and their lives made into accessories for white heterosexuals and increasingly the lgbt community; when there are people in camps. In order to organise together, it will require work; it will require staying with the trouble; it will require conscious effort. It will require time. It will require white people decentralising themselves. 

Nørrebro Pride wants to be accessible but is not. There is work to do in making the City of Copenhagen to make a place for people without homes or living on the streets; people unable to attain shelter and health care because of their lack of cpr-numbers; people who are racialised and denied access to even the smallest resources to make our communities accessible; people with disabilities facing an infrastructure that tries to deny and limit their agency at every moment. 

Let Nørrebro Pride be one of many places where we can conspire about our next actions! Let it be the place where lovers meet, kiss and fuck!  

But most of all do not walk away from today without anger, pride or a plan. We need to build; we need to organise; and we need stronger communities! If every poor person, homeless person, working class person, migrant, black person, person of colour is not to be driven from this neighborhood or the next or the next – we need to ask questions and act on them.

Close your eyes *insert joke*

There are things we need to ask ourselves and act upon together.

Who gets the right to have a home? 

What kind of people have a right to claim a home? Home is often defined by white heteronormativity, but who are all of the other people that do not fit into that box? 

What do we have to leave behind to be welcomed home? 

How can we reclaim home? 

What does home mean if you cannot leave it, are forced to stay in it, or do not have access to it? 

How do we keep our cultures and histories alive when separated from our roots? 

How do we connect across generations? 

How do we make sure that our movements don’t just become the next hashtag that you can sell on a t-shirt? 

How do we make sure that it isn’t about individuals who can earn money of the struggle? Liberation doesn’t pay; it costs. 

How can we create sustainable economic structures that allow marginalised communities the time to have their voices heard and their own power grown? Survival is no joke. 

What do you have access to that others do not? Are you sharing it?

How do those of us privileged outside the asylum system, create sustainable structures that are capable of fighting for justice together with those imprisoned in the camps? 

How do we make sure our own communities stop accepting the premise of border regimes? 

How do we make sure our own communities stand in solidarity with sex workers? 

How do we prevent the lives of queer and trans folks from being marginalized in the struggle? As we have been in every struggle, in every political space, on every continent. No matter the movement, no matter the time. 

How do we ensure that queer and trans lives don’t become excuses for bombing, sanctioning or further exploiting the countries all diasporic folks are part of? 

How do we expand? How do we sustain? How do we lift each other? As a close friend and comrade says: How do we learn to organize with intention? What shall we do to remind each other of the fact, that we once too believed in the lies of the system? 

Open your eyes. And dream. 

Thank you. 

[crimethinc]

Yellow Vests for May Day Can Macron Pacify France Before May Day 2019? Probably Not.

Last week, concluding a national initiative aimed at drawing the general population into “dialogue” with the authorities, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a handful of minor reforms intended to placate participants in the yellow vest movement. It’s far from certain that this strategy will succeed.

The situation in France is the culmination of years of strife between protest movements and the state. At the height of the so-called “refugee crisis” in 2015, the French government used the opportunity provided by the November 13 terror attacks to declare a state of emergency intended to suppress all protest activity. Instead, a massive student revolt against the Loi Travail erupted in 2016, defying the state of emergency, and simmering unrest continued through the 2017 elections and the 2018 eviction of the ZAD. The clashes of May Day 2018 showed that the movement had reached an impasse: thousands of people were prepared to fight the police and engage in property destruction, but the authorities were still able to keep the contagion of rebellion quarantined inside a particular space.

Starting in November 2018, the Yellow Vest movement upended this precarious balance, drawing a much wider swathe of the population into the streets. In response, Macron organized a “National Debate” in a classic attempt at appeasement and pacification. The outcome of the National Debate and the May Day demonstrations will tell us a lot about the prospects of social movements elsewhere around the world: what forms of pressure mass movements can bring to bear on the authorities, what kind of demands neoliberal governments are (and are not) able to grant today, and what sort of longterm gains movements for revolutionary liberation can hope to make in the course of such waves of unrest.

Accordingly, in the following update, we explore the concessions Macron offered and conclude with the prospects for May Day 2019 in France.

Paris, April 20, inside the kettle at Place de la République.

Macron’s Intervention

Having postponed his announcement due to the fire that destroyed part of Notre-Dame cathedral on the evening of April 15, President Emmanuel Macron finally presented the results of the National Debate on Thursday, April 25, in a press conference broadcast live on French television.

The government launched this “democratic” political tool three months earlier, on January 15, 2019, to answer the thirst for a more “direct democracy” verbalized by a large part of yellow vest movement—especially through calls for a Citizens’ Initiative Referendum (RIC). Macron’s goal, of course, was to reestablish political stability in France while making as few changes as possible.

President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in front of Notre-Dame. This has not been a particularly easy time to head the French government.

In the days preceding the press conference, several elements of his plan were leaked to the press, which diminished the surprise effect that the government aimed to create with this event. But unlike members of the current government, Macron’s supporters, and some corporate journalists, none of us were waiting impatiently for the president’s intervention, nor expecting that anything positive or surprising would come out of this political spectacle.

For more than five months now, yellow vesters have learned the hard way that dialogue with the government is meaningless—the state is prepared to take ever more authoritarian measures in order to maintain its hegemony and preserve the status quo. In the outcome of the “National Debate,” we see again why democracy has not served as a bulwark against fascism, but rather as a means to legitimize state power. Those who control the state are always careful to make sure that while elections, referendums, and discussions can serve to create the impression that the government has a mandate to represent the general population, they never actually threaten the institutions of state power.

The Government Responds to the Yellow Vests

Those interested who wish to see two and half hours of political doublespeak can watch Macron’s press conference in full here. Our goal here is simply to analyze some of the major decisions taken by the French government.

In the opening statement, Macron explained that he had learned a lot from the National Debate and emerged “transformed.” According to him, this three-month political experience highlighted that there is a deeply rooted feeling of fiscal, territorial, and social injustice among the population, alongside a perceived lack of consideration on the part of the elite. Therefore, the government has decided to present “a more human and fair” political project.

However, after these conventional words intended to create the illusion of empathy from the government towards yellow vesters and everyone else struggling on a daily basis as a consequence of the policies implemented by successive governments, Macron lifted the veil, adding:

“Does this mean that everything that has been done in the past two years should be stopped? I believe quite the opposite. We must continue the transformations. The orientations taken have been good and fair. The fundamentals of the first two years must be preserved, pursued, and intensified. The economic growth is greater than that of our neighboring countries.”

President Macron at the official press conference to present the results of the National Debate.

If some people still hesitated to believe that the National Debate was just a political farce, here is the ultimate proof. For months, people expressed their frustrations in the streets and traffic circles. Facing this unprecedented and uncontrollable situation, the authorities answered by saying that in a democracy, dialogue must not be established through “violence,” therefore offering the National Debate as an alternative in order to pacify the situation—while increasing police repression against demonstrators in the meantime.

After three months of National Debate—which fortunately failed to stop the movement—those who trusted the good intentions of the government saw their efforts and demands dismissed. In effect, Macron was telling everyone, “Thanks a lot for taking part of this debate, we heard you, but in the end, we decided to pursue our political agenda and continue the liberalization of the capitalist economy.”

So the long-awaited conclusion of the National Debate was simply a mix of old promises, a few adjustments to show the goodwill of the government, and new reforms to accelerate the transformation and liberalization of society.

Over five months later, yellow vest protesters are still in the streets.

First, Macron rejected some of the biggest demands of the yellow vest movement. The government will not officially recognize “blank votes” as a form of opposition during elections (so far, those votes are counted but they are not taken into account in the final results and in the total number of vote cast). Then, he refused to reverse the decision to reduce taxes on the income of the super-rich—one of the issues that had provoked the emergence of the yellow vest movement in the first place.

Furthermore, the government also opposed the idea of creating the Citizens’ Initiative Referendum (RIC). Instead, they want to develop an already existing alternative¬—the Referendum of Shared Initiative—by simplifying its rules. From now on, instead of requiring 4.7 million signatures to be discussed at the Assemblée Nationale, a petition will only need one million signatures and the approval of at least a fifth of the total number of deputies. If the National Assembly refuses to discuss the issue, a referendum can be held. Macron also mentioned his desire to reinforce the right to petition at a local scale.

A yellow vest protester holding a sign calling for the Citizens’ Initiative Referendum, one of the most popular demands among the movement. From our perspective, efforts to make the French government more “directly democratic” will be ineffectual at best and at worst will legitimize reactionary and repressive state policies as “representing the will of the people.”

Even with the proposal to simplify this participatory political platform, it is easy to see that the government is taking very few risks with this alternative. The idea is to give people the impression that they have more leverage within the democratic system, as they can address petitions to their representatives. But in the end, who will have the final word on these issues? Politicians motivated by self-interest, power, and careerism. There is very little probability that the deputies will validate any petition that could threaten the status quo. As in any other political system, this democratic game is obviously rigged: even if you play by the rules, you always lose!

Then, Macron repeated and clarified some reforms that were already present in his electoral program of 2017: limiting the number of terms for politicians (though he did not specify how many would be allowed); reducing the number of parliamentarians by 25% or 30%; increasing the degree of proportional representation in legislative elections (which will likely give more power to the National Front in French political institutions).1

Members of the Anti-Criminality Brigade in action during Act 22 in Toulouse.

After presenting what the government is planning to do to include more elements of participatory democracy in the French political system, Macron expressed his desire to undertake a “profound reform of the French administration” and of its public service. To do so, the government intends to put an end to the National School of Administration (ENA)—symbol of republican elitism and opportunism—in order to create a new institution that “works better.” Moreover, in May, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has been mandated to officially present a government plan to put more civil servants in the field so they can help the authorities find solutions to people’s problems at a local scale. Therefore, the government has abandoned its previous objective of abolishing 120,000 posts of civil servants—but this doesn’t mean that the government has abandoned the idea of cutting jobs.

To fight against the steady reduction of public services in the countryside and in some provinces—such as post offices and deliveries, health insurance, and unemployment agencies—the government aims to establish buildings that would concentrate all these rudimentary public services in one location. Such initiative already exists, in fact, but is suffering from critical underfunding.

Then, Macron stated that no further hospital or school will close until 2022—the end of his presidential term—without the agreement of the Mayor of the Commune they are located in. For years, successive governments have underfunded hospitals and schools, increasing the precarious aspect of working conditions. The main question is—what will happen after 2022? Regarding the education issue, Macron agreed to limit the number of students per class to 24 from kindergarten to second grade and to duplicate classes if necessary, as is already stipulated in some priority education areas—read poor districts. This is an interesting focus for Macron when in the meantime, government policies are worsening the educational system as a whole, especially via reforms targeting high schools and universities.

Concerning economic policies, Macron explained that he wants to “significantly reduce” the amount of income tax demanded from the middle class. However, to do so while balancing the loss of tax revenue, Macron is asking everyone to “work more.” The meaning behind this statement remains quite obscure, as Macron offered no further explanation. So far, we know that the government doesn’t want to change the legal age of retirement nor to cancel holidays. However, Macron is not opposed to the idea of increasing the number of working hours per week. The government also aims to reach its objective of “full employment” by 2025, without explaining how this might take place. In order to compensate for the tax cuts for the middle class, the government also aims to suppress some specific fiscal niches used by large companies, but Macron said nothing about the various strategies of tax evasion utilized by the super-rich.

Macron also explained his wish to increase the minimum amount of retirement pensions from today’s approximately €650 per month up to €1000. Moreover, Macron also reconsidered his previous policy regarding retirement and confirmed that pensions under €2000 would be re-indexed to account for inflation starting January 2020. Finally, the government wants to create some sort of mechanism to guarantee the payment of child support to families in need.

Starting in June, Macron wants to create a “citizen’s convention composed of one hundred and fifty people with the mission to work on significant measures for the planet.” In addition, he wants to establish a Council of Ecological Defense to address climate change. This council would involve the Prime Minister as well as the main Ministers in charge of this transition in order to take “strategic choices and to put this climate change at the very core of our policies.” This is not a measure to address the ecological crisis so much as yet another step in the development of the same French bureaucracy that sparked the yellow vest movement in the first place. Our governments and the systems that put them in power in the first place continue to lead us towards darker futures.

Riot police charging demonstrators at Place de la République on Saturday, April 20.

Finally, and most ominously, Macron presented his plan to “rebuild the immigration policy” of France. “Europe needs to rethink its cooperation with Africa in order to limit the endured immigration and has to reinforce its borders, even if this means having a Schengen area with less countries,” he proclaimed. “I deeply believe in asylum, but we must strengthen the fight against those who abuse it.” This will likely be the premise of a new step in the development of fortress Europe. And, of course, whatever authoritarian measures are developed to target migrants will also be used to target poor people and rebellious elements within France itself. In this regard, we can see that it has been self-destructive as well as racist and xenophobic that some yellow vesters have demanded more immigration controls.

As May Day Approaches

Following this press conference, the government hoped that its official announcements would finally take the life out of the yellow vest movement, defusing the social tension that has built up. However, in the hours following Macron’s speech, several well-known yellow vest figures expressed their dissatisfaction with his proposals, calling for further demonstrations. In the end, even if some yellow vesters were sidetracked by Macron’s announcement, it was difficult to predict whether people would massively take the streets for the 24th act of the yellow vest movement.

For Act 24 of the movement, yellow vest protesters made an international call to gather in the streets of Strasbourg. The banner reads “Coordination of the Yellow Vesters from the East.”

On Saturday, April 27, about 23,600 yellow vesters demonstrated in France. For this new day of action, the epicenter of the movement was the city of Strasbourg. As the European elections will occur in a month, an “international call” was made to gather and march towards the European Parliament. Some Belgians, Germans, Italians, Swiss, and Luxembourgers participated as well. About 3000 demonstrators walked through the streets of Strasbourg, confronting police and engaging in property destruction. In the end, 42 people were arrested and at least 7 injured—three police officers, three demonstrators, and one passerby.

At the same time, two demonstrations took place in Paris. The first, organized by trade unions, drew about 5500 demonstrators, among them 2000 in yellow vests, while the other, mostly composed of several hundreds of yellow vesters, did a tour of all the major corporate media headquarters to ask for “impartial media coverage.” Other gatherings also took place in Lyons, Toulouse, Cambrai, and elsewhere in France. (All of the figures provided here are from the French authorities.)

Street confrontations in Strasbourg on Saturday, April 27.

If we compare the total number of participants in this 24th act to the other national days of action, it is undeniable that it attracted fewer participants. Does that mean that the government has finally gained the upper hand over the movement? It’s unclear. It is possible that some yellow vesters stayed home from the 24th act in order to prepare for May Day.

Last year, the intensity of property destruction and confrontations with police during the May Day mobilization of anarchists and other autonomous rebels compelled the government to cancel the entire traditional trade union march. In view of the tense social and political situation in France today, who knows what May Day 2019 could bring?

If the government attempts to cancel or repress demonstrations in Paris this May Day, the situation could become explosive. Not only because the police have adopted aggressive new law enforcement strategies over the past few weeks, but also because several calls have been made for yellow vesters to join autonomous rebels at the front of the traditional Parisian afternoon procession for the “ultimate act.” The objective is set: Paris is to become the capital city of rioting.

The world on fire, Paris in the middle.

Here is an English adaptation of one of the calls, entitled Pour un 1er mai jaune et noir:

For a yellow and black May Day!

“When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is for the people and for each portion of the people the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of duties.”

-Article 35 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1793)

Macron’s government has decided to crush the current social protest by force, reaching a level of repression never seen before: prohibitions of demonstrations, deployment of soldiers, the use of armored vehicles, the use of chemical markers and weapons of war against protesters, jail sentences in spades, hands torn off, blinded protesters…

During the demonstration of May Day 2018, the Prefecture of Police counted 14,500 demonstrators “on the sidelines of the trade union procession” (almost as much as in the traditional procession) including 1200 “radical individuals.” On March 16, at the time of act 18, it was 1500 “ultra violent” ones who were present among the 7000 demonstrators, according to the figures of this same police.

Today, what frightens the state is not the rioters themselves, but the adhesion and understanding they arouse among the rest of the population. And this despite the calls, week after week, for everyone to dissociate themselves from the “breakers.”

If there is one group that currently strikes France with all its violence, it is not the “Black Bloc,” nor the yellow vests; it is rather the government itself.

We are calling on all revolutionaries in France and elsewhere, all those who want this to change, to come and form a determined and combative march. Because if repression falls on everyone, our response must be common and united. Against Macron and his world, let’s take the street together to revive the convergence of anger and hope. Let’s get ready, let’s equip ourselves, lets organize ourselves to overthrow him and drag him through a day in hell.

War has been declared!

Let’s see that flag burn too.

For those who attend to join the May Day festivities in Paris, here are some important links and information:

List of different May Day actions

Information and contacts courtesy of the Legal Team in French, English, and Italian.

Further Reading

We have been publishing updates and analysis on the Yellow Vest movement since it first got underway. You can view all our articles here.

“Proportional representation” would mean that if, for example, 30% of voters vote for the Green Party, then members of that party would receive 30% of the total number of seats. So far, legislative elections offer no proportional representation—even if a party receives a large percentage of votes, it might not gain many seats at the assembly. People have been complaining about this “unfair process,” so now the government is willing to increase proportional representation in elections. Unfortunately, for several years now, the National Front has usually received around 20-25% of votes but only currently holds 6 seats out of the 577 in the Assemblée Nationale. Increasing proportional representation will give them more power in the decision-making—although, of course, it’s not clear to what extent Macron will actually follow through on his promises.

Of course, there is no option for people who have grown disillusioned with government itself: that perspective will never be “proportionately represented.” This is why the government refused outright to recognized blank votes. ↩

[tdupere772]

Profile: Lula da Silva

Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Siva

(https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45168837)

     Lula da Silva is seen by many as a savior to Brazilian Democratic politics. His charismatic and influential behavior promised change to the “people” of Brazil. His followers showed signs of some of the most loyal and supportive people in history, as they physically defended him until the moment he surrendered to authorities, and even still so today as he remains behind bars. During Lula’s reign as president (2003-2011), he was most famously known for removing 30 to 40 million people out of poverty, and for relating to his people as “one of them.”

Life Before Politics/ Early Political Stages

     Lula comes from a lower class family, where he worked as a shoe shiner, factory worker, and street vendor as a child to help his family make financial ends meet. Following the military coup that ended in 64, Lula sought out work at Villares Metalwork in São Bernardo do Campo. Soon after, he became part of the Metalworker’s union, eventually leading him into the role as the union’s president in 1975. His socioeconomic background led to his national attention, as he led his first movement against the military regime’s economic policy. He was also noticed for being a founder of the Workers Party (PT). According to BBC, “It was a long struggle to the top. Lula ran for president unsuccessfully three times before eventually being elected in 2002.”

     After taking office in January 2003, Lula sought to improve the economy, enact social reforms, and end government corruption. Some of his efforts in helping the poor include, a Zero Hunger scheme to assure minimum sustenance to every Brazilian, or monthly cash transfers to mothers in the lowest income strata if providing proof of sending their children to school and getting their health checked. The symbolic message behind these efforts are what stuck out as some of Lula’s best political assets.  The message was that “the state cares for the lot of every Brazilian, no matter how wretched or downtrodden, as citizens with social rights in their country.” Lula led the country during a period of “unprecedented economic growth.”

Corruption Scandals

     Lula, who led Brazil from 2003 to 2011, as the head of the left-wing Workers’ Party, is not only “one of the most charismatic public figures in Latin America but is still the most popular politician in Brazil.” However, Lula still ended up at the heart of corruption, which eventually led to him stepping down and surrendering to authorities. Lula is currently serving a 12-year sentence in prison, for being found guilty of money laundering and bribery. Lula is best known for his corruption scandal in “Operation Car Wash.” BBC describes the scandal as followed, “Operation Car Wash began in March 2014 as an investigation into allegations that executives at the state oil company Petrobras had accepted bribes from construction firms in return for awarding them contracts at inflated prices.” On top of that, there were allegations that some of the money was used to buy off politicians and to buy their votes. Lula still denies all accusations on the scandal and with his ties to the OAS construction firm. However, because of his conviction, he was no longer eligible for the presidential election of 2018. Even behind bars Lula still advocating for his ideas. BBC quoted Lula as he said, “There is no point in trying to end my ideas, they are already lingering in the air and you can't arrest them.”

Media Involvement

https://twitter.com/lulaoficial?lang=en

     Lula shows heavy involvement on both Twitter and Facebook, with over 4 million Facebook followers, and over 600 thousand Twitter followers. Although Lula is currently in prison, his campaign and followers still post daily tweets and statuses under the official verified accounts. Below is an example of a translated Facebook status posted today:

(https://www.facebook.com/Lula/)

     His legacy and beliefs seem to be carried out and reinforced by his followers on social media and in real life. News websites such as BBC, also have videos displaying the support Lula is backed up with, even until the very moments of his surrender. This article, features a video of Lula forcing himself through a crowd of his supporters to turn himself in. According to the Journalism In The America’s Blog, “The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) and the National Federation of Journalists (Fenaj) have classified as censorship and a restriction on journalism the decisions of Federal Supreme Court Ministers Luiz Fux and Dias Toffoli, which prohibit former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from granting a press interview from prison.” There have also been restrictions against the Brazilian Constitution that prohibits journalists from interviewing the former president.  

Frameworks of Populism

     Mudde and Kaltwasser outline Latin American populism in three waves. The third wave ( current) claims to “fight the free market and aim to construct a new development model that will bring real progress to the poor” (Mudde and Kaltwasser, 2017, pg. 31). Many believe that Lula did just this. He pulled millions out of poverty and stood behind the idea of “bringing sovereignty back to the people.” Mudde and Kaltwasser continue in later chapters to explain different types of populist leaders. Page 68, outlines the “vox populi” a.k.a, the voice of the people. The major distinctions of a vox populi are that there is a (1) clear separation from the elites and (2) connection to the people (Mudde and Kaltwasser, 2017, pg.68) Coming from a poor background with no political family history, Lula fits right into this type of populist. BBC quoted that, "They [Brazilians] identify with Lula because he's one of them, coming from poorer parts, then becoming a metal worker, and then all the way to the presidency, without departing from these origins." Finchelstein makes an important note on populism stating that,

        “ On a global scale, populism is not a pathology of democracy but a political form that thrives in democracies that are particularly unequal, that is, in places where the income gap has increased and the legitimacy of democratic representation has decreased” (Finchelstein, 2017, pg. 5).

In the case of Lula, it is interesting because he founded a populist party (Workers Party) and continued to be supported by them throughout his presidency. According to A “Left Turn” in Latin America? Populism, Socialism, and Democratic Institutions, “it is a party that emerged from the ashes of labor-based traditions associated with President Getúlio Vargas (1930–45; 1950–54). Yet the PT’s fiscal discipline since taking office in 2003 means that it cannot be considered populist” (Schamis, 2006, pg. 21). We don’t often see populist party candidates winning presidential elections and when we do there is a fine line of what happens to that populism, and whether that party continues to exist or not. Regardless of Lula’s current status and separation from politics, his wise words and actions appear to live on throughout his supporters, and it will be interesting to see history unfold as Brazil continues under its new far-right president, Bolsonaro.

     E. Schamis, Hector. (2006). Populism, Socialism, and Democratic Institutions. Journal of Democracy. 17. 20-34. 10.1353/jod.2006.0072.

     Finchelstein, F. (2017). From fascism to populism in history. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.

     Mudde, C., & Kaltwasser, C. R. (2017). Populism: A very short introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

[covid19updater]

COVID19 Updates: 09/08/2021

RUMINT (US):  A friend of mine posted tonight on social media about a friend of hers who had died. The woman was very young, and no cause of death was listed, so my first thought was that it was some sort of tragic accident. I went to the Go Fund Me that was linked, and it turned out she died of Covid. The woman was young (under 30, I think), wore masks, and was fully vaxxed. She left behind two young kids. She was a fit, healthy-looking young woman. I don't know anything about whether there were underlying conditions or not, but her family and friends all seemed quite shocked by her passing. The Go Fund Me was to provide something for her children. Every time I listen to someone like Chris Martenson, or others like him, who say that Delta is actually not as bad as the media makes it sound, I almost become convinced ... until I hear something like this, and it reminds me that this variant is infecting and sometimes killing young, cautious, vaxxed people.

World:  Study: Mu variant is more vaccine evading "Mu variant is highly resistant to sera from..[Pfizer]-vaccinated individuals. Direct comparison of different spike proteins revealed that Mu spike is more resistant ..than all other currently recognized variants LINK

World: Op/Ed:  Remember: the desensitization to death and suffering that the 1918 flu brought paved the way for fascism in the 1920s and 1930s.

Europe:  Notices of Liability for COVID-19 Vaccine Harms and Deaths Served on All Members of the European Parliament LINK

India:  New "Pandemic Potential" Brain-Destroying-Virus With 75% Death Rate Spreading In India LINK

US:  U.S. COVID update: Many states reporting holiday weekend backlogs - New cases: 303,843 - Average: 154,645 (+19,837) - In hospital: 100,700 (+434) - In ICU: 26,094 (+84) - New deaths: 2,265

Australia:  #Australia's 1,721 new #Covid19 cases is the second worst ever total, almost 500 up on last Weds. 1,480 infections in #NSW, 221 in #Victoria while #ACT has the other 20. Today was also 2nd highest daily death toll for 364 days as another 10 fall victim to #Coronavirus

World:  Some people have 'superhuman' ability to fight off COVID-19, study finds LINK

Germany:  TOP GERMAN PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIAL SAYS  IF WE DO NOT VACCINATE MORE PEOPLE, THE FOURTH WAVE OF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC COULD HAVE A MASSIVE MOMENTUM THIS FALL

Japan:  THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT IS SOLIDIFYING ITS PLANS TO PROLONG THE STATE OF EMERGENCY IN MOST PLACES UNTIL THE END OF SEPTEMBER - NHK

Czech Republic:  The Czech Republic on Wednesday recorded 588 new cases of COVID-19, the highest daily tally since May 25, as government officials predict a continued rise in cases;

Europe:  EMA: ASTRAZENECA COVID-19 VACCINE PRODUCT INFORMATION WILL BE UPDATED WITH GUILLAIN-BARRÉ SYNDROME (GBS) AS A SIDE EFFECT

Germany:  The head of Germany’s CDC, Lothar Wieler, warned of a drastic 4th coronavirus wave this fall as the number of Covid ICU patients, many of them younger, has nearly doubled in the past two weeks. Wieler, who leads the Robert Koch-Institute, urged Germans to get vaccinated.

Ukraine:  Ukraine could tighten lockdown restrictions as COVID-19 picture worsens LINK

Idaho:  Idaho hospitals begin rationing health care amid COVID-19 surge LINK

Missouri:  St. Louis children's hospitals near capacity, and not just from COVID LINK

South Korea:  S.Korea planning to live 'more normally' with COVID-19 after October LINK

California:  California’s Central Valley overwhelmed by COVID-19 Delta surge LINK

US:  Just Say It: The Health Care System Has Collapsed LINK

World:  Bad news on #MuVariant—Japanese scientists: "Mu variant is highly resistant to sera from convalescent & [Pfizer]-vaccinated people. Direct comparison of different spike proteins revealed that Mu spike is more resistant…than all other current variants”

Canada:  Alberta nurses say government is scaling back its pay cut proposal amid fourth wave of COVID-19 LINK

Kansas:  Kansas data doesn’t reflect reality as COVID-19 rips through schools LINK

Vermont:  FBI opens criminal probe into 3 troopers over fake Covid-19 vaccination cards LINK

Texas:  Texas Hospital Reports 50 Mu COVID Cases As Delta's Dominance Continues LINK

Indiana:  Union Hospital emergency rooms are filling up with patients LINK

Mississippi:  Nurse walkouts possible statewide as COVID-19 takes a toll on healthcare professionals LINK

US:  From Alaska To Idaho And Beyond, Covid Surges Stress Hospital Systems LINK

Hawaii:  DOH, HAH COVID efforts give hospitals a couple weeks before reaching “crisis point” DOH Director Elizabeth Char, MD, and HAH President and CEO Hilton Raethel shared a joint presentation to the Committee, noting that Hawaii exceeded its ICU bed capacity as of Friday. LINK

US:  COVID Now Leading Cause of Death Among Law Enforcement LINK

Wisconsin:  Wisconsin reports more than 1,000 COVID-19 hospital patients for the first time since January LINK

Colorado:  Nursing homes face staffing shortages, financial problems as they serve growing need LINK

West Virginia:  No ICU beds available: PCH at capacity with COVID-19 patients LINK

Florida:  At West Boca Medical Center, 32 Kids Admitted Over Seven Days For COVID LINK

US:  252,000 children test positive for COVID-19 in past week as classes resume LINK

Washington:  A Washington county has approved an emergency declaration to bring in a refrigeration trailer for the bodies of COVID-19 victims that have overwhelmed the morgue LINK

World:  Why are we seeing more COVID cases in fully vaccinated people? LINK

World:  Is Covid here to stay? A survey of more than 100 scientists found a vast majority expect the coronavirus will become endemic LINK

Jamaica:  GRIEF, HORROR AND DEATH “They say we are low on oxygen, I am telling you, we are running out of medication too. What we have to be doing is writing prescriptions and giving it to the family to fill because there is this great demand for these products” LINK

RUMINT (US):  OK. So now a first for me. TBH, previously I've known no one directly who has died either of the covid19 or the trial vaccination. Now that has changed. 26 year old mum, has child of 9 months, died three days after trial vaccination. Foremost it's a tradgedy for her & close ones.

World:  COVID-19 created lots of supply chain problems — and they're nowhere close to being solved LINK

US:  Supply chain issues impacting ports in Pacific Northwest LINK

World: Op/Ed:  The only thing I seem to recall re. Mu, is all the same people playing that down played Delta down for quite a while too. Perhaps Mu won't succeed. But, it seems very sensible to have the attitude, one will soon.

US:  NEW: White House signals new COVID-19 measures coming for unvaccinated Americans LINK

Canada:  814 new cases of #COVID19 announced in B.C., as the rolling average rises slightly as we continue to be in this bumpy short-term plateau. Active cases rise to 5,550, hospitalizations rise to 261, but no new deaths.

Iowa:  Iowa DPH confirms 18 cases of COVID-19 mu variant LINK

Macedonia:  15 people have reportedly been killed and more than 20 others injured in a fire at a Covid hospital in North Macedonia - #Covid #hospital #Fire

UK:   More than 50 cases of the Mu variant have been detected in the UK LINK

World: Ivermectin causes sterilization in 85 percent of men, study finds LINK

[aboriginalnewswire]

4tWorldRadyo // Which Way is Up? - The US Left in Ideological Crisis

Current News You Should Know: - David Duke Compares Trump To Jesus Christ, Calls Him A ‘Hero’ For Remarks On Putin - inquisitr.com - #US and #EU #SeparatistGroups to Gather on #Moscow’s Dime - The upcoming conference will feature guests from #Catalonia and #Texas, but no #Chechens or #Uyghurs. By Casey Michel / July 26, 2016 / http://tinyurl.com/ybglspkq - Steve Bannon plans right-wing group in #Brussels – POLITICO - Trump's ambassador lobbied Britain on behalf of jailed right-wing activist Tommy Robinson | Reuters - Trump ambassador lobbied UK over jailed Tommy Robinson: report | USA News | Al Jazeera - Let Nigel Farage help build a bridge with Donald Trump, says Katie Hopkins | Daily Mail Online

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SUMMARY: This delayed broadcast from the @TheAngryindian and 4th World Radyo goes further in questioning the Russiagate Scandal and asks how Indigenous and Afro-American populations fit into the Trump Administration's painfully obvious programme to 'Make America Gammon Again' through the state-sponsored utilisation of racial-profiling against non-European citizens and residents within the United States; the indefinite detention of persons according to arbitrary legal and extralegal means and once brought into the system against their will(s) these people are subjected to physical and psychological including the reported use of psychotropic drugs and sedatives aimed and reducing resistance to what is happening to them and the social media influence of Russian-backed hacker-factories situated in Eastern Europe and the Russian Republic. @TheAngryindian also takes a hard look at some of the voices of the US Left angrily dismissing allegations of Russian-meddling as American Paranoia and asks why these 'experts', when appearing on alternative news media, seem to be more interested in fighting harder for Trump and Putin than they are for Black and Brown America. Is there a reasonable explanation for their questionable behaviour, especially following Trump's treasonous performance in Helsinki? And after the Trump Administration decided to support British neo-Nazi Tommy Robinson with diplomatic pressure, (after supporting neo-Nazis at home) why, in a logical world, would US Leftists choose to thrown their lot in with the US Republican Party which is directly connected to the violent far-right? Is this the 'new' American Left? And how will Progressives and authentic Democratic Socialists deal with this while working to build a functional political party in the United States under Democratic Fascism? EXTRAS: The usual mix of politically progressive PSAs; anti-commercial quirks; political sounds and archived news items; a brief corporate news clip with the Rev. William Barber, including illuminating commentary from independent broadcasters Benjamin Dixon, Joe Rogan and Mike Malloy. All this and much more on, 4WR. The official Internet radio broadcast of the Aboriginal Press News Service Listen/ Download: (mp3) / (ogg) Further Reading:

The Communist Party USA and African Americans - Wikipedia

The Problem of Equality: Black Communists and the Women’s Charter – AAIHS

Pompeo, Religion, and Regime Change in Iran – LobeLog

Trump's Latin America Policy: Send in the Troops - FPIF

Trump pressed for Venezuela invasion, US officials say | WTOP

Trump Pressed Aides About Invading Venezuela: U.S. Official | Time

Trump’s Threat Against Maduro Unites Latin America, Against U.S. - The New York Times

Arsalan Iftikhar: Mike Pompeo said all Muslims are 'potentially complicit' in terrorism. He's unfit to be secretary of state.

Here’s John Bolton Promising Regime Change in Iran by the End of 2018

Arsalan Iftikhar: Mike Pompeo said all #Muslims are 'potentially complicit' in terrorism. He's unfit to be secretary of state. ( http://twitthat.com/Bv2lB )

What's Behind Trump’s Assault on Europe - FPIF

How Russia Used Racism to Hack White Voters

Obama hit by racist memes on Russian social media over hacking row | Daily Mail Online

Why Won't The Far Left Acknowledge Russia's Fascism? - The Daily Banter

Inside the Russian effort to fuel American secessionists – ThinkProgress

David Duke praises Trump for Putin press conference | TheHill

Donald Trump Did Get Some Praise for Putin Comments—From Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke

The Evangelical Case for Voting for David Duke

Inside Bannon's Plan to Hijack Europe for the Far-Right

The Jewish State in Israel and the Levant | SocialistWorker.org

Democratic Convention: Bernie, the Kurds and Lack of Moral Clarity on Syria | HuffPost

What’s Become of the Russia-Friendly Californian Secessionists? | The Diplomat

Neo-Confederates reach out to their ‘Russian friends’ in new project – ThinkProgress

US, Britain warn of Russian campaign to hack networks - Daily Nation

Racist Russian Propaganda Still Going Viral On Social Media

The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election - The New York Times

Exclusive: Fake black activist social media accounts linked to Russian government

12 Russians indicted in hacking of Clinton's campaign and computers handling voter registration

White supremacists' disturbing outreach to 'Russian friends' shows why Trump's fondness for Putin is even darker than it seems

Israel Cements Right-Wing Agenda in a Furious Week of Lawmaking - The New York Times

Ecuador Will Imminently Withdraw Asylum for Julian Assange and Hand Him Over to the U.K. What Comes Next?

How Pizzagate Pusher Mike Cernovich Keeps Getting People Fired | HuffPost

Sheriff who backed Roy Moore allegedly had sex with an underage girl

Lavrov tells Pompeo: free Russian woman accused in U.S. of espionage | Reuters

Trump suggests season suspension as punishment for NFL players who protest during anthem.

Mother and son arrested outside a domestic-violence hearing | Charlotte Observer

Mark Janus quits state job for conservative think tank gig after landmark ruling | Chicago Sun-Times

Article: Migrant Children Detained in Shelters Being Drugged, Told Not to Hug, Forced to Bathe in Sinks | OpEdNews

Russian operatives used Facebook ads to exploit America’s racial and religious divisions - The Washington Post

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