Anand Giridharadas: The People Are Rising

By Anand Giridharadas

The people are rising.

Give them forty days of this, and they’re rising.

They are rising in town halls. Rising at electric car dealerships owned by a man who would scorch the earth. They are making signs and marching and being annoying and being that person. They are, by the thousands, making inquiries to run for office.

The people are rising because they looked around for someone else to rise instead and realized that what they had was a mirror.

They are rising because first they thought no one else would and then they saw they were not alone. Now they are rising together.

They were waiting for others to be the first mover, the advance team, the vanguard. Then they got fed up and loaded their van with snacks and signs and water, and went.

They are refusing to be ruled. They know that the only appropriate time to hear “coup” is when you are speaking to a baby. They are rejecting the artifice of the deal.

They do not wish to obey in advance.

They are watching the big buildings of the republic, and the important people inside of them, crack and tremble, and they are marveling that little old them has more courage than all the big institution people.

The people are rising. They are claiming their birthright to speak. And speak loudly.

They are speaking clearly. They don’t sound like many of those who are called senators and representatives. They don’t get lost in caveats and qualifications and “as it relates to” and “in terms of.” They say what they feel: They want to be free.

The people are rising. No longer trusting blindly the people and places they used to. Thinking for themselves. Asking for trust to be earned. Assembling their own infrastructure of reality. Seeing new truths in the scared or condescending silences.   

They have come to the place of not minding being That Person. The person who brings it up. Who says the thing. Pushes. Who ruins dinner to save the republic.

The people are rising. Remembering not only what they are against but also what they are for. Painting a lush tomorrow. Inviting people in. Making space for latecomers.    

The people are rising. Once they do, nothing is ever the same. Will you rise, too?

Please go here for the original article: https://the.ink/p/essay-the-people-are-rising 

EXCELLENT — George Monbiot: There Are Many Ways Trump Could Trigger a Global Collapse. Here’s How to Survive If That Happens

I have long held George Monbiot with the highest gratitude and respect. His integrity, wisdom, fierce courage and caring, powerful truth-telling, and unwavering commitment to a higher good is a gift to us all. This deeply important article by George Monbiot is one that I hope will be read and shared widely. — Molly 

Demonstrators gather outside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protest against Donald Trump's move to close it, Washington DC, 10 February 2025. Photograph: Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

It could be wildfires, a pandemic or a financial crisis. The super-rich will flee to their bunkers – the rest of us will have to fend for ourselves

By  George Monbiot

Though we might find it hard to imagine, we cannot now rule it out: the possibility of systemic collapse in the United States. The degradation of federal government by Donald Trump and Elon Musk could trigger a series of converging and compounding crises, leading to social, financial and industrial failure.

There are several possible mechanisms. Let’s start with an obvious one: their assault on financial regulation. Trump’s appointee to the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Russell Vought, has suspended all the agency’s activity, slashed its budget and could be pursuing Musk’s ambition to “delete” the bureau. The CFPB was established by Congress after the 2008 financial crisis, to protect people from the predatory activity that helped trigger the crash. The signal to the financial sector could not be clearer: “Fill your boots, boys.” A financial crisis in the US would immediately become a global crisis.

But the hazards extend much further. Musk, calling for a “wholesale removal of regulations”, sends his child soldiers to attack government departments stabilising the entire US system. Regulations, though endlessly maligned by corporate and oligarchic propaganda, are all that protect us from multiple disasters. In its initial impacts, deregulation is class war, hitting the poorest and the middle classes at the behest of the rich. As the effects proliferate, it becomes an assault on everyone’s wellbeing.

To give a couple of examples, the fires in Los Angeles this year are expected to cost, on various estimates, between $28bn and $75bn in insured losses alone. Estimates of total losses range from $160bn to $275bn. These immense costs are likely to be dwarfed by future climate disasters. As Trump rips down environmental protections and trashes federal responsiveness, the impacts will spiral. They could include non-linear shocks to either the insurance sector or homeowners, escalating into US-wide economic and social crisis.

If (or when) another pandemic strikes, which could involve a pathogen more transmissible and even more deadly than Covid-19 (which has so far killed 1.2 million people in the US), it will hit a nation whose defences have been stood down. Basic public health measures, such as vaccination and quarantine, might be inaccessible to most. A pandemic in these circumstances could end millions of lives and cause spontaneous economic shutdown.

Because there is little public understanding of how complex systems operate, collapse tends to take almost everyone by surprise. Complex systems (such as economies and human societies) have characteristics that make them either resilient or fragile. A system that loses its diversity, redundancy, modularity (the degree of compartmentalisation), its “circuit breakers” (such as government regulations) and backup strategies (alternative means of achieving a goal) is less resilient than one which retains these features. So is a system whose processes become synchronised. In a fragile system, shocks can amplify more rapidly and become more transmissible: a disruption in one place proliferates into disaster everywhere. This, as Andy Haldane, former chief economist at the Bank of England, has deftly explained, is what happened to the financial system in 2008.

A consistent feature of globalised capitalism is an unintentional assault on systemic resilience. As corporations pursue similar profit-making strategies, and financialisation and digitisation permeate every enterprise, the economic system loses its diversity and starts to synchronise. As they consolidate, and the biggest conglomerates become hubs to which many other enterprises are connected (think of Amazon or the food and farming giant Cargill), major failures could cascade at astonishing speed.

As every enterprise seeks efficiencies, the system loses its redundancy. As trading rules and physical infrastructure are standardised (think of those identical container terminals, shipping and trucking networks), the system loses both modularity and backup strategies. When a system has lost its resilience, a small external shock can trigger cascading collapse.

Paradoxically, with his trade wars and assault on global standards, Trump could help to desynchronise the system and reintroduce some modularity. But, as he simultaneously rips down circuit breakers, undermines preparedness and treats Earth systems as an enemy to be crushed, the net effect is likely to make human systems more prone to collapse.

At least in the short term, the far right tends to benefit from chaos and disruption: this is another of the feedback loops that can turn a crisis into a catastrophe. Trump presents himself as the hero who will save the nation from the ruptures he has caused, while deflecting the blame on to scapegoats.

Alternatively, if collapse appears imminent, Trump and his team might not wish to respond. Like many of the ultra-rich, key figures in or around the administration entertain the kind of psychopathic fantasies indulged by Ayn Rand in her novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, in which plutocrats leave the proles to die in the inferno they’ve created, while they migrate to their New Zealand bunkers, Mars or the ocean floor (forgetting, as they always do, that their wealth, power and survival is entirely dependent on other people). Or they yearn for a different apocalypse, in which the rest of us roast while they party with Jesus in his restored kingdom.

Every government should hope for the best and prepare for the worst. But, as they do with climate and ecological breakdown, freshwater depletion, the possibility of food system collapse, antibiotic resistance and nuclear proliferation, most governments, including the UK’s, now seem to hope for the best and leave it there. So, though there is no substitute for effective government, we must seek to create our own backup systems.

Start with this principle: don’t face your fears alone. Make friends, meet your neighbours, set up support networks, help those who are struggling. Since the dawn of humankind, those with robust social networks have been more resilient than those without.

Discuss what we confront, explore the means by which we might respond. Through neighbourhood networks, start building a deliberative, participatory democracy, to resolve at least some of the issues that can be fixed at the local level. If you can, secure local resources for the community (in England this will be made easier with the forthcoming community right to buy, like Scotland’s).

From democratised neighbourhoods, we might seek to develop a new politics, along the lines proposed by Murray Bookchin, in which decisions are passed upwards, not downwards, with the aim of creating a political system not only more democratic than those we currently suffer, but which also permits more diversity, redundancy and modularity.

Yes, we also – and urgently – need national and global action, brokered by governments. But it’s beginning to look as if no one has our backs. Prepare for the worst.

Please go here for the original article:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/18/donald-trump-global-collapse-wildfires-pandemic-financial-crisis

Anand Giridharadas: Home Of the Brave? Really?

 An excellent, powerful piece 

from Anand Giridharadas. — Molly

Who will stand up for democracy?

By  Anand Giridharadas

Only in the song does the one automatically follow the other. In real life, you don’t get to be “the land of the free” if you are not also “the home of the brave.”

As I write this, there are scattered and inspiring examples of bravery all around us — prosecutors, judges, even the occasional lawmaker. But in the main, we are proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are not the home of the brave. We are a country full of people smilingly capitulating to a tyrant.

Here in this city is a mayor who just went ahead and said it: “I’m collaborating.” A word more well chosen than he knew.

Collaborating. Yes, collaborating. That is exactly what he was doing. When he all but invited Donald Trump’s immigration raids into this city forged of the world in exchange for his own narrow freedom.

Collaborating. Exactly that. It is fashionable now. Bravery, less so.

It’s the media owners who are rejecting advertisements from the pro-democracy movement and letting go of cartoonists who challenge power and settling bogus lawsuits to protect their wider commercial interests, and trying to position themselves in the Dear Leader’s good graces. Why do they even own newspapers? Maybe they would be better off owning banks. Do they know what newspapers are for?  

Collaborating.

It is the astonishing number of Democratic legislators and leaders who have no lack of courage when asking you for $5 via text message, but who ghost harder than single men in their 20s when the time comes for us to reap our investment in them. They say some big things, but they refuse to put a blanket hold on nominees or otherwise shut down the business of government until the coup that is plainly occurring is stopped. Turns out you should always get your spinal surgery before an authoritarian takeover.

Collaborating.

Then there are the CEOs, who, five years ago, proudly positioned themselves as avatars of a new future of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and now purge those programs from their own companies. They have more power with the resources at their command than most people who have ever lived, but it is not enough to give them courage. They would sell out their own colleagues, make them feel less part of the team, in order to please a Dear Leader who would sell them out in a Wall Street second.

Collaborating.

It’s the liberal and progressive nonprofits and foundations that we learn are pulling back from supporting the vital work of organizing for democracy, at kind of the exact moment when you would want to be organizing for democracy. They have chosen the wrong time to collapse. In the good times, they boast to the world of their missions to advance justice and freedom and equality. And then when an actual fascist takes the American presidency, suddenly they’re pulling back, they’re protecting their assets, they’re going safe.

Collaborating.

It is the university leaders who, instead of defending their faculty — one of the only bastions of protected thinkers who can actually tell the truth without fear because of tenure — are bending over backwards to please the wannabe autocrat. Campuses are now full of fear of a new McCarthyism. How does it feel to work for leaders who do not have your back?     

Collaborating.

We are learning about ourselves as a country. We are learning who among us and around us is brave. Apparently, you don’t even need all of your fingers and toes.

Maybe it was always a mistake to count on these big institutions to protect us. They haven’t been for some time now. Yes, there are a handful of brave lawmakers, brave judges, brave media voices, brave others. But in general, it is now very clear after this first month that no one is coming to save us.

It’s time to take back our country. Not only from this authoritarian nightmare, but also from the collaborators too insipid and weak and chickenshit — too skinless and boneless — to stand up for us.

It is becoming time to be the home of the brave, if we wish to be the land of the free.   

Please go here for the original article: https://the.ink/p/essay-home-of-the-brave-really 

EXCELLENT — Dr. Lawrence Britt: Fourteen Defining Characteristics of Fascism

This post from November of 2016 is a chilling reflection of where we are at today. The longtime warnings about fascism have not been heeded and fascism has now become our incredibly frightening reality. The bullying billionaires now in power are going after all of our money. Democrat, republican, independent — it doesn't matter. The oligarchs want it all! Just going down this list of the 14 defining characteristics of fascism, we can clearly see that each and every one is now occurring in our country, right here in America. (If  you doubt #14, remember January 6th and research the relentless efforts to disenfranchise voters.) So here we are, in a great rupture, collapse, and the shredding of the remaining threads of democracy left in the United States. 

I also agree with so many: despair is not an option. It is my belief that these times require so much of us — and that includes that we are passionate about digging deep to inform ourselves. The truth matters! And vital to our times is that we learn what fascism is and then engage in what Anat Shenker-Osorio refers to as resistance, refusal, and ridicule. 

What we are witnessing day after day is insane, inhumane, immoral, criminal, and suicidal. May we all be strong voices of truth and relentless actions on behalf of the highest good for all Americans, for all humans and other beings everywhere, and for our Earth Mother. We truly are all in this together and suffering anywhere is a threat to the well-being of us all. — Molly

 

Fourteen Defining 

Characteristics of Fascism

In the spring of 2003, ex-corporate executive and political scientist Lawrence W. Britt published an essay in Free Inquiry magazine entitled “Fascism Anyone?” In his work, Britt examined the traits of the two governments that formed the original historical model for fascism, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and five other proto fascist regimes that imitated that model, Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal, Papadopoulos’s Greece, Pinochet’s Chile, and Suharto’s Indonesia. He identified 14 characteristics that were common to all of them.

These traits have since been widely accepted as the 14 defining characteristics of fascism. 

Nearly three generations removed from the horrors of Nazi Germany, all of these regimes may have been overthrown, but fascism’s principles can still be found in many nations. History tends to repeat itself because many leaders and nations fail to learn from history, or they draw the wrong conclusions. Surely we are living in frightening times when a individual like Donald Trump with his extremist views, can sway enough voters to allow him to get into his position of power and authority, whose tactics aren’t unlike those of the fascists who came before him. It goes something like this:

First, they isolate and attack marginalized people with little political power, like Muslims and undocumented workers. Later, they graduate to  other opponents of their dangerous right-wing populism. Finally, they play the victim and deny adamantly that they’ve done anything wrong.Trump's campaign’s overt demagoguery, vicious misogyny, racism, violent speech, and complete disregard for truth and values of human decency combined  with his macho cult of personality have released plausible shouts of fascism from every corner.
The following then considers, in fourteen points, the things which may happen to a culture when it is heading towards a fascistic regime, that can potentially threaten our civil liberties.As Donald Trump  becomes President of the USA by rattling the cages of racial anxiety,with his incendiary rhetoric it still serves as a powerful warning and wake up call,.

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Please go here for the original article:  https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/11/fourteen-defining-characteristics-of.html