While Donald Trump endorses hateful mentalities and Ann Coulter casually tweets neo-Nazi slogans, some people still cling to the hope that January 20 will bring a normal presidency rather than a fascist regime. Others — including Vic Mensa, Thurston Moore, Dread Scott, Alice Walker, and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe — are not kidding themselves. Mensa et al are calling for a month of resistance against a Trump/Pence-led America in order to stop the administration before it’s too late. The group Resist Fascism has been established to encourage people to rise up against the impending autocracy and acknowledge its disastrous consequences. Yesterday, it took out a powerful full-page ad in the New York Times calling for a month of resistance that reaches a crescendo on Inauguration Day.
“Because we refuse to accept a fascist America, millions must rise up in a resistance with a deep determination such that we create a political crisis that prevents the Trump/Pence fascist regime from consolidating its hold on the governance of society,” the ad reads. “Fascism foments and relies on xenophobic nationalism, racism, misogyny, and the aggressive re-institution of oppressive ‘traditional values.’ Fascism feeds on and encourages the threat and use of violence to build a movement and come to power. Fascism, once in power, essentially eliminates traditional democratic rights.” In a particularly powerful paragraph, it reminds people, “Those who lived through Nazi Germany and sat on the sidelines, looking on as Hitler demonized, criminalized, and eventually rounded up one group after another, became shameful collaborators with monstrous crimes.”
Resist Fascism’s website outlines its mission in further detail, provides answers to frequently asked questions, and lists helpful information such as slogans to share and protests to attend. Particular importance is given to Martin Luther King weekend and the days leading up to the inauguration. The group reminds readers that preventing Trump/Pence can be far more than a pipe dream if millions are mobilized to fill the streets and declare the regime illegitimate. “The whole political landscape would be dramatically transformed, every faction within the established power structure would be forced to respond — and all this could well lead to a situation in which this fascist regime is actually prevented from ruling.” See the ad below and a list of protests near you here.
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Image via Resist Fascism