Refuse Fascism

Coco Das (@Coco_Das) speaks to an activist who traveled to Washington DC this week to protest for abortion rights as the Supreme Court heard opening arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization - the case which is primed to overturn Roe v. Wade and enable abortion bans in more than half the states in the US. Mentioned in this conversation: Will Supreme Court conservatives overturn Roe? Their casual contempt for women is not a good sign by Amanda Marcotte on Salon.

Then, Coco talks to Paul Street about the state of fascism and the state of fascism denial as we near the close of 2021. Paul Street is the author of ten books including his latest, This Happened Here: Neoliberals, Amerikaners, and the Trumping of America, which is about to be published. Follow his work at paulstreet.org.

We really can’t overstate the importance of having a presence in the streets – in the public square – over the next few months. Much is made of the 8/10 Americans who support Roe v Wade. But it’s meaningless to simply state that without backing it up. The history of fascism has shown us that dominating the public square and the public discourse – whether or not they have majority opinion on their side, goes a long way in determining whether fascism prevails or not. 8/10 obedient Americans are no obstacle to these Christian fascists. But 8/10 people in the streets – even 5/10 waging a sustained, non-violent struggle to say hell no, you’re not slamming women back to the days of back alley abortions and forced pregnancy, this makes it known to the whole world who the majority is and what they’re willing to put on the line.

Send  your comments to [email protected] or @SamBGoldman. Or leave a voicemail at 917-426-7582.

Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support:

Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown.

Sam Goldman interviews Dr. Carol Anderson, the Charles Howard Candler Professor and Chair of African American Studies at Emory University and the author of White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy, and her latest book The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America which was the focus of this conversation. Follow Dr. Anderson at professorcarolanderson.org and @ProfCAnderson.

Topics covered in this episode: the shameful Rittenhouse acquittal, the complicity of local police in the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery, and the defeat of the federal charges against the Unite the Right rally organizers… where does this all come from and how does this relate to a fascist offensive that involves a whole fascist movement that attempted a violent coup on January 6 to overturn an election? How does it relate to the GOP which has since purged itself of anyone disagrees, and the deepened and hardened belief of millions in their fascist base that this violence was righteous and may be necessary in the future? How does all this fit together? Where is all this going? Where does it come from? And where do we go from here? 

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On Wednesday December 1, the Supreme Court will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, where the state of Mississippi had specifically asked the Court to overrule Roe v. Wade.

What needs to be heard outside SCOTUS & nationwide: Abortion on Demand & Without Apology!  In the Name of Humanity We Refuse To Accept a Fascist America! The future of abortion access hangs in the balance! For more background on this case, what is at stake, and it’s connection the whole fascist onslaught go back and check out two episodes from earlier this fall: Episode 82 When Is It Time to Break the Law? and Episode 78 on the Abortion Rights Emergency.

Wednesday Dec 1 Abortion Rights Actions (see StrikeforChoice.org for more):

Visit RefuseFascism.org to get signs, banners, and flyers to bring into these actions. Donate $15 this Giving Tuesday and we’ll send you 100 Abortion on Demand Without Apology stickers.

Send your comments about the Refuse Fascism podcast to [email protected] or @SamBGoldman. Or leave a voicemail at 917-426-7582 or on https://anchor.fm/refuse-fascism/message.

Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support:

Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

Coco Das interviews Jonathan Friedman, PEN America, about their new report titled "Educational Gag Orders" about the onslaught of legislation restricting public education in the US about race, gender and American history (pen.org/report/educational-gag-orders). Friedman is the director of free expression and education at PEN America, where he oversees advocacy, analysis, and outreach to educational communities and academic institutions. Follow Friedman at @jzfriedman and PEN at @PENAmerica.

Refuse Fascism Statement on the Acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse: We Need a Beautiful Rising to Stop Rising Fascism – No Fascist Vigilantes in Our Streets!

Audio included from interviews with Justin Blake and Bishop Tavis Grant of the Rainbow Push Coalition was excerpted from NBC Chicago. Also mentioned in this episode: The Fight Against the White Supremacist Whitewash and Fascist Suppression of Historical Truth by Rafael Kadaris.

Send your comments about the Refuse Fascism podcast to [email protected] or @SamBGoldman. Or leave a voicemail at 917-426-7582 or on https://anchor.fm/refuse-fascism/message.

Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support:

Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

Sam Goldman and Coco Das discuss the Kyle Rittenhouse trial in the proper context of the fascist movement he is a part of. Recommended reading: Coco’s recent article The Rittenhouse Trial and Two Sides in Contention: A Beautiful Rising or Rising Fascism and Reflections on Kenosha by Paul Street. Follow Coco Das on Twitter at @Coco_Das and Paul at @Streetwriter17

We’re continuing to pay special attention to the three trials with tremendous stakes: 

In Charlottesville, Virginia: The federal civil trial of 24 white supremacist groups and individuals who came to Charlottesville in August 2017 and unleashed fascist violence that led to the murder of Heather Heyer. 

In Brunswick, Georgia: the case against Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, and William Bryan who are on trial for hunting down and murdering Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old Black man who was out on a jog.  

And in Kenosha, Wisconsin: The criminal murder trial for Kyle Rittenhouse who traveled with an AR-15 to a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha where he shot and killed two protesters and wounded another. 

All three concentrate the fascist mobs and threats of violence that are being unleashed to build the fascist movement and consolidate power & it reflects the ways in which there is an assault on the rule of law in this country and the most vicious overt white supremacy that threads it all together. 

ALSO: Penn America released a report this week exposing what they are calling educational gag orders that outline how lawmakers in nearly half the country this year have tried to muzzle educators in regards to topics that include racism, sexism, and American history. As detailed in the report from January to September, a total of 54 bills concerning K-12 schools, higher education institutions and state agencies were introduced, the report says. Eleven of those bills have become laws in nine states, including Texas, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Read more here: pen.org/report/educational-gag-orders

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After the discussion with Coco Das, Sam interviews Vara Ramakrishnan with Strike for Choice on their plans to take action on Dec 1 and how you can join. Dec 1 is the day the Supreme Court will hear Dobbs vs Whole Womens Health, the case which poses an imminent threat to abortion rights and the possible wholesale gutting of Roe v Wade. You can take action wherever you are to refuse to go along with the evisceration of this essential right with the hashtag #StrikeForChoice. Find out more at www.strikeforchoice.org

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Send your comments about the Refuse Fascism podcast to [email protected] or @SamBGoldman. Or leave a voicemail at 917-426-7582 or on https://anchor.fm/refuse-fascism/message.

Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support:

Venmo: @Refuse-Fascism  Cashapp: @RefuseFascism   paypal.me/refusefascism donate.refusefascism.org

Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

Legal analyst and former federal and state prosecutor Elie Honig discusses what we know about the January 6th insurrection and any chances for real accountability (hint: the DOJ/Merrick Garland would have to take action and there is zero indication that they are going to do so). In addition to watching him on CNN, you can follow on Twitter @eliehonig, read his book Hatchet Man: How Bill Barr Broke the Prosecutor's Code and Corrupted the Justice Department and listen to his podcast Up Against the Mob.

Mentioned in this episode

Meanwhile

Freespeechforthepeople.org is urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to resign from his post after nine months of inaction to hold Trump and his allies accountable for inciting the January 6th insurrection and other federal crimes they may have committed. It’s good that people are refusing to accept this accommodation to fascism. That said, it’s time for people to recognize that it isn’t just one or another individual doing this - but that ‘democratic’ norms, institutions, and the Democratic Party can’t be relied on to handle this threat. As revolutionary leader Bob Avakian has aptly stated, “The Democrats are committed to 'playing by the rules' and 'relying on the norms' of 'democratic' capitalist dictatorship, while the Republicans are moving to tear up those norms and rule through an open, undisguised capitalist dictatorship.”

Send your comments about the Refuse Fascism podcast to [email protected] or @SamBGoldman. Or leave a voicemail at 917-426-7582 or on https://anchor.fm/refuse-fascism/message.

Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support:

Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

Epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves, discusses his recent piece for The Nation America as a “Shining City on a Hill”—and Other Myths to Die By with Sam Goldman. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gregggonsalves.

More recommended listening on the politics of the pandemic: COVID: A Case Study with Life & Death Stakes: Science, Epistemology, Conspiracy & Fascism. 

Send your comments about the Refuse Fascism podcast to [email protected] or @SamBGoldman. Or leave a voicemail at 917-426-7582 or on https://anchor.fm/refuse-fascism/message.

Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support:

Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

Valerie Elverton Dixon, Ph.D., discusses her recent essay When It Is Time to Break the Law with Sam Goldman, along with the abortion rights emergency and the strategy and tactics that will meet the current crisis. Follow Dr. Dixon's writings at justpeacetheory.com.

Send your comments about the Refuse Fascism podcast to [email protected] or @SamBGoldman. Or leave a voicemail at 917-426-7582 or on https://anchor.fm/refuse-fascism/message.

Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support:

Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown.

Coco Das (@coco_das) interviews Ana Ramón (@ana_ramon89), Director of Advocacy for the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) about the new legislation that takes aim at anti-racist and truthful teaching of social studies and other subjects for students in Texas. Follow IDRA @IDRAedu and Texas Legislative Education Equity Coalition (TLEEC) at @txtleec.

Send your comments about the Refuse Fascism podcast to [email protected] or @SamBGoldman. Or leave a voicemail at 917-426-7582 or on https://anchor.fm/refuse-fascism/message.

Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support:

Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown.

Walter Masterson is a comedian known for going deep into Trump territory. Follow him on Instagram: waltermasterson Twitter: @waltermasterson or TikTok: @waltermasterson and watch his YouTube videos. He talks with Sam Goldman about why the Trump movement is deadly serious. Then, Sam talks to Andy Zee, one of the initiators of Refuse Fascism and a host of The Revolution Nothing Less Show on YouTube about the movement against fascism in the US.

Send your comments about the Refuse Fascism podcast to [email protected] or @SamBGoldman. Or leave a voicemail at 917-426-7582 or on https://anchor.fm/refuse-fascism/message.

Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support:

Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown.

Rafia Zakaria, attorney, political philosopher, and author of the new book Against White Feminism talks about abortion, Afghanistan, empire, individualism, white supremacy and more with Sam Goldman. Follow Rafia on Twitter at @rafiazakaria.

Mentioned in the conversation: The Other Afghan Women by Anand Gopal.

Rallies for abortion rights were held around the country yesterday in response to the abortion ban in Texas and the plans for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe this year. Continued and spreading protest is needed now - get in touch with Refuse Fascism organizers by emailing [email protected].

Send your comments about the Refuse Fascism podcast to [email protected] or @SamBGoldman. Or leave a voicemail at 917-426-7582 or on https://anchor.fm/refuse-fascism/message.

Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support:

Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown.