The following from the national leadership of Refuse Fascism is a reflection on the overall situation we are facing, both the continuing and escalating dangers posed by the regime, and our potential and responsibility to stop it. The regime is moving quickly on many fronts. While this reflection was written before the recent shake-ups in the war cabinet, which represent a determination to wage war in Iran and North Korea and a heightened escalation of the dangers of this regime, the assessment here is still highly relevant, and the dynamics of this situation are still at play.
The Trump/Pence Regime is moving forward with a fascist agenda on many fronts. While it has not, as yet, succeeded in eliminating democratic and civil rights across the board – openly ruling through state violence (detention/incarceration, militarized borders, executive fiat, courts run by fascists), reinforced by violent fascist thugs – they have made real progress. While they have not yet been able to impose their full reactionary program, they have made significant progress implementing reactionary policy in almost every sphere of public life. The Trump/Pence regime is setting new terms throughout society and their aroused social base has held firm, hardened, and become more militant and aggrieved.
There has been resistance to the regime over the past year – overwhelmingly aimed at specific policies, and a generalized revulsion at Trump in particular. Increasingly this has become focused on electing a Democratic Congress as the means to constrain and or impeach Trump, even as the top Democrats said that that impeachment is off the table if it will be divisive, which of course it would be. People are being led by most other forces to rely on Mueller and a future Congress. Absent mass non-violent determined struggle outside the normal political channels these are illusions which not only leave the people politically passive, but pave the way to normalization of acceptance of fascism.
Along with this, the normalization and accommodation to the regime has grown. While tens of millions remain repulsed by the regime, they are, nonetheless, largely going about their lives – if they not outright sticking their heads in the sand. They are expecting others and the normal political proceses to deal with the problem. At the same time, the active core of the resistance is increasingly funneled working towards the elections.
Refuse Fascism has been in ubiquitous in protests, active in organizing resistance, and bringing out its analysis and program: This Nightmare Must End: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go! and, In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America! On November 4, 2017, Refuse Fascism called for sustained nationwide non-violent protests to begin. Protests were held in 20 cities involving 4,000 people. These were significant in their demand that the whole regime must go, and because they took place in the face of serious widespread fascist threats of violence that were promoted everywhere on the media. However, the Nov 4 protests were too small and people were not ready to sustain them day after day or even week after week. People were not yet convinced of the necessity to mount the kind of struggle that is necessary to remove a fascist regime and therefore willing to disrupt their lives accordingly.
That the first nationwide serious attempt to mobilize masses of people to act to remove a fascist regime which dominates all branches of the federal government and most state houses did not succeed weighs on people. But, it must not be cause to say either it was wrong to try, or to conclude it is not possible. Through the active social investigation and summation of the National Tour in January, Refuse Fascism can affirm [1] our analysis that this is a regime on the road to fascism, [2] that the Refuse Fascism single unifying objective is what remains to be done and that [3] it can be achieved.
The basis for the objective of Refuse Fascism exists in the millions who still deeply abhor this regime. The first 14 months of the regime have underscored the necessity that the regime must be removed from power. Going to work on this, Refuse Fascism must put before the country and the world, through our actions and our words that a Trump/Pence fascist America poses an existential threat to humanity and is already wrecking havoc with millions of lives. It is this reality, and the deepening sense of just how profoundly dangerous this regime is and that they will not relent, that provides the basis for struggling with people to overcome the normalization that has grown over the regime’s first year.
Every struggle of significance – every movement that has seriously challenged and defeated entrenched power – has gone through setbacks before victory. Those who succeeded did not give up. Every struggle of significance has only advanced through the process of being attacked and repressed, and then by responding by sharply exposing these attacks and the forces behind them while mobilizing even more people to step into the struggle. This, in turn awakens and mobilizes even more people. This dynamic – struggle/repression/answered with more struggle is how movements advance. Refusefascism.org will be no different.