By Judith Kolokoff
Speech 4 /17/17
I am an 88 year old Jewish woman living in Seattle.
I never thought that in my lifetime I would experience fascism in the world… not just once during the rise of Hitler in Germany in the 30’s…. but again years later as I am currently watching it develop in the United States under the first few months in office of the Presidency of Donald Trump and his white supremacist advisor “Puppeteer” Steve Bannon. (Video of speech)
Henry Giroux, the renowned intellectual and social activist, and professor at MacMasters University in Toronto has recently written: “Trump’s brand of populism and politics are a tragedy for democracy and a triumph for authoritarianism. His first few months in office offer a terrifying glimpse of an authoritarian project that combines the ruthlessness of neoliberalism with an attack on historical memory, critical agency, education, equality and truth itself. While the US may not be in the full bloom of the fascism of the 1930s, it is at the tipping point of a virulent, American-style authoritarianism. These are truly dangerous times as right-wing extremists continue to move from the margins to the center of political life.
What is happening now in the US extends before and beyond Trump and Bannon. The changes have been insidious; and through complacency, ignorance, or laziness, we have allowed the conditions that have transformed the path to dictatorship—– into a freeway.
RecentlyThe National Holocaust Museum featured, in its library, a list of the Early Warning Signs of FASCISM:
Powerful and continuing nationalism; Disdain for Human Rights; Identification of enemies as a unifying cause; Supremacy of the military; Rampant sexism; Controlled Mass Media; Obsession with National Security; Religion and Government intertwined; Corporate power protected; Labor power suppressed; Disdain for intellectuals &and the arts; Obsession with Crime & Punishment; Rampant Cronyism & Corruption; Fraudulent Elections
– examples of which we have experienced in the first 100 days of the Trump/Bannon administration.
Surely it can’t happen here, can it? Dictators overthrow the government in a military coup…right? We have safeguards! The Constitution is the “law of the land,” military forces pledge loyalty to the Constitution; and we have a system of checks and balances to protect our liberties.
That dictators always arise from a military takeover is a misconception. Dictators also rise to power as the result of democratic elections: Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Marcos in the Phillipines, and Assad in Syria are past and present examples in our world history. If we do not stop him, Donald Trump will be the first legally elected dictator in the history of the United States.
It is important that we recognize and name what is happening here. There is no normalizing the phenomenon of the Trump administration. Steve Bannon has called for “deconstructing the administrative state,” a major step in the direction of totalitarianism. We have seen attacks against the press, the abolishment of environmental safeguards and the execution of laws and policy through executive orders, the immigration ban on Muslims, deportations and no concern for the poor and people of color in the legislative measures that have been introduced to name a few including most recently a quietly signed Executive Order to defund Planned Parenthood and cut off major health services to millions of women and children.
In the first two months of the Trump presidency we saw actions that fit perfectly with his authoritarian ideology.
At his inaugural address he painted an image of the United States marked by carnage, rusted-out factories, blighted communities and ignorant students. Underlying this image was the characteristically authoritarian emphasis on exploiting fear; the call for a strong man to address the nation’s problems, the deliberate demolition of traditional American institutions of governance; a major proposal to expand the military; and appeals to xenophobia and racism in order to establish terror as a major weapon of governance.
- His support for militarism, white nationalism, and right wing populism was illustrated by his cabinet and other related appointments which consisted mostly of generals, white supremacists, Islamophobes, Wall street insiders, billionaires, anti-intellectuals, incompetent climate-change deniers and free market fundamentalists…..most of whom are people who are aimed at destroying all of those public spheres like education, critical media, an independent judiciary, Rule by Executive Order which leaves no doubt that Trump is willing to destroy the environment, rip immigrant families apart, eliminate or seriously weaken regulatory agencies, destroy public education, eliminate millions from health care insurance, deport millions of unauthorized immigrants from the US, and invest billions to build a wall that stands as a symbol of white supremacy and racial hatred.
- Trump repeatedly exhibits a shocking disrespect for truth, law and civil liberties. He has lied repeatedly (Obama wiretapping as an example ) and when confronted by his misrepresentation of the facts, he attacks his critics as purveyors of fake news. He rarely, if ever, uses the word “democracy” in his speeches, and in fact is setting the stage by everything he does for an authoritarian society. He has proven in these first few months that he is a tragedy for justice, democracy and the planet, an a triumph for an American style “fascism”.
We are living in a time when totalitarian issues are with us again. To struggle successfully against them, We need to move beyond rage and anger (as we are doing by our presence here tonight), beyond condemnation and demonstrations to build a movement that will be on the side of justice, bridges—not walls, dignity not disrespect, and compassion, not hate. Our struggles have to be coordinated, focused and relentless. Single issue movements will have to join with others to build a mass collective grass roots movement.
To quote Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist: “It is not light that is needed, but fire: it is not the gentle shower, but the thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, the earthquake, The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be aroused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and the crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced….If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
The late Howard Zinn insisted that hope is the willingness “to hold out even in times of pessimism, the possibility of surprise”. To that I would add that collective action (the kind we are beginning to illustrate by our presence here tonight)- is no longer an option; it is a necessity, and it is our hope. WE SHALL OVERCOME!
* Biography
Judith Kolokoff has been a teacher and activist most of her life, and she has seen the rise and fall of dictators. She has made her mission stopping fascism in the United States government by educating Americans at the grass roots level, so we may recognize early the fascists’ climb to power, and understand how to cut short that climb. She worked for the American Friends Service Committee for seven years as the regional director of the Pacific Northwest Region with particular emphasis on peace with justice in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.