by David Zeiger, filmmaker and Advisory Board of RefuseFascism.org
Imagine this: A venerable Shakespeare play, the one that every high school student reads, is produced by the Public Theater as part of its Shakespeare In the Park series in New York. As is often done with Shakespeare, it is brought into present times, a popular approach to many of his plays. But in this instance the production is vilified and attacked by none other than the son of the President of the United States, along with a coterie of commentators from Breitbart and Fox News and thousands of online minions who threaten the lives of not only the producers of this play but directors of Shakespeare companies nationwide along with their families. Bank of America and Delta Airlines, major funders of the Public, immediately condemn the production and withdraw their support. And the National Endowment for the Arts, which had nothing to do with it, goes on record denying any of their funds were used in this nefarious production.
And what outrageous, provocative and offensive play was it that caused such an uproar? Why, Julius Caesar, of course. Any why did it merit such attacks? Because Julius Caesar, who is assassinated in the play, looked and acted remarkably like Donald Trump, and his wife spoke with a Slovenian accent. Now, you would think that Trump would be honored to be likened to a Roman emperor, and ironically Shakespeare’s play is in fact a cautionary tale–a warning against political violence, as Variety wrote, “as the murder’s noblest political goals were crushed.”
But reality and truth being irrelevant, the fact that Caesar (i.e. Trump) is assassinated made this production–and through a massive campaign of email threats against Shakespeare companies from Massachusetts to Texas–the latest target of choice for the forces of reaction and fascism that today are being led by Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
Art is under an unprecedented assault in this country. The NEA, NEH, PBS and CPB are all on the chopping block and this time it’s real. Would it be an exaggeration to compare what is going on now to the Nazi attack on “Degenerate Art?” I honestly don’t think so. Yes, provocative art has always caused controversy and as long as public funding has existed it has been threatened, but I can pretty confidently state that the Dallas Shakespeare company has never before received an email stating “You truly are a bunch of freaks and bottom suckers. We should send all you freaks to ISIS. They would eliminate your stint on this earth with real knives,” as reported on NPR (And notice, as a side note, how these fascist trolls admire ISIS).
How do we respond to this? How do we fight it? How do we beat it back? Circulate petitions? Write letters? Elect Democrats? Or, as the NEA shamefully did, distance ourselves from those under attack? Or perhaps just lay low and hope that somehow this nightmare will end.
Twelve years ago I made a film, Sir! No Sir!, that told the story of the thousands of men and women who found themselves caught in the middle of one of the Twentieth Century’s greatest nightmares, the Vietnam War. Those Soldiers, Sailors and Marines defied prison, violent attacks, social ostracism, and even death to build a GI Movement against the Vietnam War and play a major role in exposing and ending that crime. Their movement went up against the most powerful military in the world from the inside! It was insane. It was unthinkable. It was irrational. It had never been done.
And it changed the world.
Now is the time to once again do the insane, the unthinkable, the irrational. Now is the time to set our sights on bringing this horrific government of Trump and Pence down. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, short of that will end this nightmare. Refuse Fascism has called for nationwide demonstrations on July 15 to take a crucial step toward that goal. I urge all my friends in the arts, and especially in the independent and documentary film world, to join in taking that step. The goal is simple and straightforward: The Trump/Pence regime must go! In the Name of Humanity, We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America.
Go to refusefascism.org. This is a movement that must be very broad and very bold. Bring your body, your heart, your mind, and start doing the unthinkable.
July 15 Protest and Demand: THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO!