NO!
RefuseFascism.org Calls for Mass Defiance of Fascist Trolls
In the Name of Humanity – We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America!

May 23 Networks of “alt-right” fascists have unleashed a campaign to dig up and publish everything they can find about the personal lives on the internet of the thousands of individuals who signed the Refuse Fascism Call to Action: “NO! In the Name of Humanity – We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America! DRIVE OUT THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME!” RefuseFascism.org’s Call has been published in the New York Times and the Washington Post with prominent signatories, and the first and last names of 4,600 signatories are listed with the Call on RefuseFascism’s website.

The website BuzzFeed published an article on this right-wing trolling on Sunday May 21. RefuseFascism.org immediately issued a statement.

Every person who believes in the right of people to stand up and petition for what they believe to be right and true without harassment or intimidation needs to condemn this outrageous trolling … and to stand up to these fascists by SIGNING and SPREADING the RefuseFascism Call to Action.

This alt-right campaign is aimed at intimidating, silencing, and even unleashing harm against those who have the courage to stand up and say NO! The comments on the fascists’ listserves are vile,anti-Semitic, racist and reactionary. Let the words of one of these fascists reveal their mindset and reactionary aims:

“McCarthy was right all along. We need to bring in a new era of overwatch and accountability for professors and civil-servants. We must begin the ideological purge, and restore balance and objectivity to academia.”

Their campaign directly serves Trump/Pence fascist regime. These words, from the Refuse Fascism Call to Action, are borne out every day:

“Fascism foments and relies on xenophobic nationalism, racism, misogyny, and the aggressive re-institution of oppressive ‘traditional values.’ In Trump’s election campaign he encouraged and fed on the threat and use of violence to build a movement and come to power… What is crucial to understand is that once in power fascism essentially eliminates traditional democratic rights.” [emphasis added]

This attack on the signers of Refusefascism.org’s Call to Action is part of a dangerous wave of mobilization of the Trump/Pence base: a KKK-style torch-light rally in Virginia against the removal of a Confederate statue; a Mississippi state representative called for lynching those who took down the Confederate statues; hundreds of fascist thugs went to Berkeley to assault anti-Trump protesters; Breitbart, Hannity and other fascists launched a campaign to intimidate CUNY School of Public Health into dis-inviting Linda Sarsour from giving a commencement address.

This is all part of consolidating fascism. The danger posed is not to one or even all of the organizations and movements, it is a threat to humanity. Refusing fascism means driving out the Trump/Pence Regime. It means resisting the attacks of the regime and the attacks from those thugs who would defend the regime. Refusefascism.org will not betray the righteous stand that people took in signing the Refuse Fascism Call to Action. Anyone harassed by these fascists must be defended by the people. We will NOT be intimidated. The signatory list will stay on line. As an act of defiance against this cowardly fascist attack, RefuseFascism.org calls on people to sign and circulate the Call to Action and double the number of signatories.

We draw inspiration from the more than 10,000 professors and others who, when their colleagues were placed on a McCarthyite Professor Watchlist after the election of Trump, added their names to that Watchlist in solidarity.

As it says in the RefuseFascism Call to Action, “…This must be a moment in history when millions stand together with conviction and courage, overcoming fear and uncertainty, to resist and say NO! Not just for ourselves, but in the name of humanity.”