Is 2020 a Rerun of 1939 or Something Much Darker?

 

Is 2020 a Rerun of 1939 or Something Much Darker?

By Vegematic Deluxe

 Sitting here in the relative peace and safety of my Canadian home, I feel a profound sense of unease and dread. It's not just the pandemic or the increasing environmental catastrophes. It's not only the corporate takeover of all public institutions or the obscene inequality of wealth. It's not just the fact that a fascist government controls the most powerful weapons of war ever devised.

Each of these would be more than enough individually to contribute to many sleepless nights, but it's the convergence that makes all of these crises feel unbearable. As we tenuously cling to some sort of normalcy, I believe that if we are to be honest with ourselves, we must admit that normalcy as we have known it will probably never return.

 In 1939, my 15 year old father was living the normal life of a farm boy in Poland. He was a good student and had dreams of becoming a veterinarian. The harvest that summer had been bountiful and the family was assured of enough to get them through the coming winter. The school year was about to begin and my father was eager to return to his studies.

 Working to bring in the harvest in the warm September sun along with his father, they heard a horrendous cacophony as the skies above their little farm darkened with Nazi Stukas. In that one moment, my father's life was forever changed. In an instant, he became a homeless refugee on the run from Nazi storm troopers. Captured and placed in a concentration camp, that 15 year old boy witnessed atrocities that no human should ever be exposed to. Due to his bravery and ingenuity, he managed to escape the camp and eventually joined the British forces. His regiment was comprised of Polish refugees who were the first Allied forces to take the Nazi stronghold of Monte Cassino in Italy.

By McConville (Sgt), No 2 Army Film; Photographic Unit

My father never discussed his wartime experiences with me until shortly before his death. It was just too painful for him. However, his life serves as a constant reminder to me of just how quickly everything you hold dear can be snatched away.

 The despair that I'm feeling watching the rise of fascism around the world is deeply personal to me. To witness America falling into a fascist dictatorship is the stuff of nightmares. Yet here we are, watching history repeat itself complete with the accompanying denial by the average citizen. Seeing the impotence of the octogenarian opposition while government institutions have been methodically dismantled and replaced by Trump sycophants is more than a little disheartening. Insane conspiracy theories like Q proliferate across the internet while actual crimes against democracy are not only tolerated, but encouraged.

The chaos is deliberate. There is credible evidence that much of the arson and looting at BLM protests was instigated by right wing agitators. This plays right into the hands of a fascist dictator posing as a "law and order" savior. Are we as a planet about to descend into a dark age that dwarfs the horrors of the Second World War? All of the indicators point to yes.

 I have been labeled an alarmist since I first saw a Trump rally in 2015. What has occurred in the ensuing years has done nothing to dispel my fear. It has only served to confirm them. I desperately want to be proven wrong. Without massive societal changes, we will never return to "normal" again. The best way that I can honor my father's memory is to fight fascism with every fiber of my being and to encourage others to take up the struggle. The future of humanity may well depend on it.

BIO: Vegematic is a YouTuber with an eclectic following of  broad-minded people who enjoy hearing  commentary on life in this century from a Canadian perspective. He's also an excellent artist. Check out his videos on his channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2vzbyWki1kWC6SAzeqw_Iw.

 

 Related Article:

Why are the Democrats praying for the speedy recovery of a fascist dictator? https://theintercept.com/2020/10/04/why-are-democrats-praying-for-the-speedy-recover-of-a-fascist-dictator/

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Moral Monday Car Caravan Protest 

with the Poor People's Campaign

The Poor People's Campaign took it to the streets this week to protest Sen. Mitch McConnell's "Misery, Meaness and Mayhem" in Washington with his dismal performance as leader of the Senate. Protesters in Toledo, Ohio, targeted the offices of Sen. Rob Portman (R) by circling the block repeatedly with signs on their vehicles and shouting through a portable P.A. horn chants such as "Health care not wealth care (warfare)!"  Will Senator Portman listen to the people? Let's watch and see. More Moral Monday protests are planned.

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Tish O’Dell

Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

Ohio Community Organizer

CELDF.org

tish@celdf.org

BREAKING: Court Breathes New Life into Lake Erie Bill of Rights Legal Fight

Imperiled Lake Erie must be protected. Lake Erie Bill of Rights lives to fight another day, but still faces obstacles.

TOLEDO, OH: Yesterday, an Ohio court of appeals reversed a previous trial court order, ruling residents suing to enforce the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR) and hold the State of Ohio accountable for its failure to protect Lake Erie have stated a legitimate claim. The court also suggested the State of Ohio has been hypocritical and may not be fulfilling its obligations toward Lake Erie and her people. The state argues it is protecting Lake Erie—which is the people of Toledo’s drinking water supply—but instead is busy trying to slow down the people of Toledo from advancing historic Rights of Nature protections for the imperiled lake.

“The state keeps claiming it has the sole power to protect Lake Erie, then why don’t they protect it already? The people have no illusions that the courts or this ruling will save them or the lake. Lake Erie turns green and poisonous with toxic algae year after year and the state not only does nothing, it protects the polluters and fights the people who are attempting to protect the lake,” says CELDF Ohio Organizer Tish O’Dell. “This ruling at least validates the people’s instinct to keep fighting for the lake and their community any way they can. We will fight however we can, wherever we can.”

Yesterday’s ruling is “vindication of what we have been saying, and what has been obvious to anyone who lives near the lake: The state has abandoned its duty to defend the public good in favor of selling out to agricultural lobbyists and factory farms, with predictably disastrous results,” says Bryan Twitchell, one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs.

LEBOR joins other local Rights of Nature laws in the United States, including in Grant Township, Pennsylvania and Lincoln County, Oregon that have made inroads into the legal system. The court said yesterday that the state’s argument “appears opposite” to one it argued in a federal case against LEBOR.

"While it helps to claim a victory in court, that is not the only way we build a movement,” says Markie Miller, a petitioner for LEBOR and organizer with Toledoans for Safe Water. “Laws should reflect our ethics, not guide them. We can't throw these debates to the courts.”

The ruling follows August oral arguments about the Rights of Nature lawsuit. “A century from now, if our species survives, people will undoubtedly wonder how we could possibly have defined Lake Erie, a necessity for survival, as mere property to be exploited instead of a living and life-giving body with an inherent right to be healthy,” said plaintiff Mike Ferner at that hearing.

CELDF celebrates the people of Toledo. Their fight to protect Lake Erie, their lifeblood, has been an uphill battle from the start. They were the underdogs to get on the ballot, during the campaign to pass the law, and now in the courts. They keep showing others what it takes to protect what you love.

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is building a movement for Community Rights and the Rights of Nature to advance democratic, economic, social, and environmental rights – building upward from the grassroots to the state, federal, and international level.

 

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From Green Peace:

The Wet’suwet’en First Nation hereditary chiefs are urgently calling for support to stop the Coastal GasLink pipeline!

Tell KKR & Co: Divest from the Coastal GasLink pipeline!

MESSAGE KKR & CO.

Earlier in the month, I woke up to my Facebook account blocked. I couldn’t access anything and, as a result, I couldn’t do my job to amplify your important calls for a more just and green world! In fact, all of Greenpeace USA’s online staff couldn’t access their Facebook accounts, along with frontline Wet’suwet’en Indigenous leaders, grassroots land defenders, and hundreds more climate activists organizing against the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Facebook claimed that a #ShutDownKKR online day of action we co-hosted back in May — targeting KKR & Co., a major funder of the Coastal GasLink pipeline — violated their terms of service. The accounts have been unblocked and the social media giant apologized, but they still haven’t sent the specific details about what happened.

Wet’suwet’en leaders who oppose the pipeline continually face repressive tactics from multi-national bullies like Facebook. With construction looming, we need to be as loud as ever to make sure the Coastal GasLink pipeline never gets built by pushing its biggest investor — KKR & Co. — to pull out of their agreement.

Tell KKR & Co. to divest from the Coastal GasLink pipeline slated to cut through Wet’suwet’en land without consent from Indigenous leaders.

The Coastal GasLink pipeline is TC Energy's latest pipeline project. It would pump fracked gas over 420 miles from northern Canada to the west coast of Canada where it would cross Wet’suwet’en territory without consent from the hereditary chiefs, before being exported to Asia.

Now is not the time to slow down — we need to ramp up.

Pipeline workers and militarized police officers are flooding into Wet’suwet’en territories, putting communities at even more risk for COVID-19. These “man camps” house hundreds of workers in tight quarters, and many members of the community are terrified that they will become breeding grounds for violence against Indigenous women and two-spirit people.

The Coastal GasLink pipeline is putting Indigenous communities at severe risk, and KKR & Co. is set to make a lot of money.

KKR & Co. must be held accountable for ignoring the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs demands to stop construction, putting the Wet’suwet’en land and water at risk, endangering Indigenous women and two spirit people by building man camps along the route, and fueling the climate crisis.

Not only are we taking our action online all week, grassroots activists from the Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Team, Seeding Sovereignty, and Rising Tide North America projected images onto the KKR building in NYC and sent a plane over the whole city with this message — Defund Coastal GasLink #ShutDownKKR!

Will you join the #ShutDownKKR online week of action right now?

Tell KKR & Co. to respect the rights of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and stop funding the risky Coastal GasLink pipeline immediately.

Facebook’s banning of the Wet’suwet’en solidarity movement was absurd, and they’ve been largely unaccountable when it comes to telling us why it happened. The tech giant already has a massive disinformation crisis where climate deniers run rampant. It really begs the question of what’s next.

We need to flex our power and stop billionaire oil CEOs, industry lobbyists, tech giants, and private equity firms who want to push through projects and platforms that deeply affect real people no matter the cost.

There is no climate justice without Indigenous sovereignty,

Vanessa Butterworth, Greenpeace USA
A settler originally from Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation territory in Canada¹

PS: Want to directly support the Wet’suwet’en? Here’s the #WetsuwetenStrong 2020 supporter toolkit straight from the hereditary chiefs.

[1] Read about the importance of using land acknowledgements here: https://native-land.ca

A History of Fascism in America

A History of Fascism in America

by Coast Watcher 

Somewhere in and around the city there is a beat-up old car held together with duct tape and baling wire. It’s not an unusual sight in the impoverished city where damaged vehicles are a dime a dozen, but plastered over the surface of this particular vehicle (and probably helping to hold it together) is a range of pro-Trump propaganda and a portrait of George Washington. It was the latter image that made me think of this photo taken of the German-American Bund rally in Madison Square Gardens held on George Washington’s birthday on February 20, 1939.

The rally drew over 20,000 members of this American Nazi organization dedicated to promoting the rights of white gentiles, whom the literature described as “true patriots,” and to keeping the United States out of the war looming in Europe. The crowd booed President Franklin D. Roosevelt and chanted Heil Hitler. The overt use of Nazi symbols and terminology made no bones about where this organization’s loyalties lay.

The Turbulent Thirties

The Bund originated in the Friends of New Germany (FoNG), an organization founded in 1933 by Nazi party member and immigrant Heinz Spanknöbel with German Deputy Führer Rudolph Hess’ approval. Based out of New York City with a strong presence in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Chicago, members wore a uniform of white shirt and black pants for the men, white blouse and black skirts for women.

From the first the FoNG were openly pro-Nazi and sought to infiltrate and subvert the numerous non-political German groups throughout the US. It was responsible for a massive outpouring of Nazi literature and counter-attacks against Jewish, socialist and communist moves to warn the world of Hitler’s growing power and attempted boycotts of German goods.

Not long after its foundation the FoNG went through a spell of infighting on a smaller and less bloody scale to that which occurred in the German party when Himmler ousted SA leader Ernst Röhm. Spanknöbel was ejected from the FoNG and subsequently deported as an unregistered foreign agent. The FoNGs’ numbers were noisy but remained small, ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 until 1935, when Rudolph Hess ordered all German citizens to leave the group and the leadership to return to Germany.

The German-American Bund arose out of the FoNG in Buffalo, New York under the leadership of WWI veteran Fritz Julius Kuhn. At its height the organization had over 25,000 members—including an 8,000 strong Sturmabteilungen (SA Storm Detachment) brigade and ran summer camps modeled on the German Hitler Youth, one of which, Camp Hindenburg, was located in Grafton, Wisconsin. A photo exists of a 1937 Bund rally in Kenosha, Wisconsin, scene of recent protests against the fascist attitudes of the local police in regards to their shooting of Jacob Blake seven times in the back.

The Bund engaged in several bloody clashes with opposition groups, including Jewish WWI veterans in New York City, which mirrored those clashes occurring in Britain, notably the “Battle of Cable Street” in 1936.

In 1934 it became the subject of a special Congressional inquiry headed by Congressman Samuel Dickstein which concluded the Friends were a branch of Hitler’s Nazi party. Another inquiry in 1939 confirmed the findings. Dickstein had reason to investigate and turn the screws on the Bund. Not only was he a Jewish immigrant (born the son of a Rabbi in Vilna, Russia in 1885), a subsequent release of Soviet-era documentation showed Dickstein worked as an agent of the NKVD, predecessor to the KGB.

The decline and fall of the Bund came quickly. A New York State tax investigation found Kuhn had embezzled $14,000 from the Bund’s coffers. The party declined to press charges, holding that the leadership had absolute power in the party and could do as they wished. Nevertheless, the New York DA pressed charges in an effort to cripple the Bund and succeeded in jailing Kuhn for tax fraud. The Bund replaced Kuhn as leader, but the writing was on the wall.

Congress enacted a peacetime draft in September 1940, which led to the Bund ordering members of draft age to avoid conscription—a criminal offense which carried a jail sentence of up to five years and a $10,000 fine. By 1941 membership of the Bund had waned. When the United States actively entered the war in December 1941 the Bund was officially outlawed. 

The Present Day

Neo-Nazi groups like the so-called “Proud Boys” are widespread across America. Whether their membership numbers are anywhere like what they claim is debatable. I suspect that, like their predecessor organizations the FoNG and German-American Bund, the number of actual members is in the thousands, but those who tacitly support their far-right aims are far greater. Social media is a powerful vector for spreading such hatreds, something the current demagogue president quickly picked up on.

It certainly works in the case of the poor individual driving around town in that beat-up vehicle plastered with Trump propaganda. Does he and those poor Americans who share his far-right mindset really believe Trump gives a damn about them and their plight? Do they really believe Trump will “Make America Great Again” (or even “Make America Great Again Again” – as Vice President Pence said at a recent rally.) I suspect they either don’t know or don’t care, being content merely to spread hatred and division when the ordinary people of America should be uniting against the oppressive oligarchy.

BIO: Coast Watcher keeps a close eye on the present as he researches the past. The parallels between the German-American Bund and modern-day white supremacists groups are too close--and downright scary--to ignore. We can't afford to let history repeat itself.  We must be vigilant and take out the fascists as our (great) grandparents did.

Related articles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_American_Bund

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/german-american-bund

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v07/v07p419_Peel.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Dickstein

http://www.cablestreet.uk/ 

Other excellent articles to read:
Chris Hedges: American Bloodlands
https://scheerpost.com/2020/09/08/chris-hedges-american-bloodlands/

Democracy Dies In Obfuscation
https://fair.org/home/democracy-dies-in-obfuscation/

From Facebook:

Here's why I don't talk about you know who and why I don't bother trying to change his supporters minds about him. I just read this on a friend’s page.

The question was posed, "Why do people continue supporting Trump no matter what he does?" A lady named Bev answered it this way:

“You all don't get it. I live in Trump country, in the Ozarks in southern Missouri, one of the last places where the KKK still has a relatively strong established presence. They don't give a shit what he does. He's just something to rally around and hate liberals, that's it, period. He absolutely realizes that and plays it up. They love it. He knows they love it. The fact that people act like it's anything other than that proves to them that liberals are idiots, all the more reason for high fives all around.

If you keep getting caught up in "why do they not realize this problem" and "how can they still back Trump after this scandal," then you do not understand what the underlying motivating factor of his support is. It's f*ck liberals, that's pretty much it.

Have you noticed he can do pretty much anything imaginable, and they'll explain some way that rationalizes it that makes zero logical sense? Because they're not even keeping track of any coherent narrative, it's irrelevant. Fuck liberals is the only relevant thing. Trust me; I know firsthand what I'm talking about. 

That's why they just laugh at it all because you all don't even realize they truly don't give a f*ck about whatever the conversation is about. It's just a side mission story that doesn't matter anyway. That's all just trivial details - the economy, health care, whatever.

F*ck liberals.

Look at the issue with not wearing the masks. I can tell you what that's about. It's about exposing fear. They're playing chicken with nature, and whoever flinches just moved down their internal pecking order, one step closer to being a liberal.

You've got to understand the one core value that they hold above all others is hatred for what they consider weakness because that's what they believe strength is, hatred of weakness. And I mean passionate, sadistic hatred. And I'm not exaggerating. Believe me. 

Sadistic, passionate hatred, and that's what proves they're strong, their passionate hatred for weakness. Sometimes they will lump vulnerability in with weakness. They do that because people tend to start humbling themselves when they're in some compromising or overwhelming circumstance, and to them, that's an obvious sign of weakness.

Kindness = weakness. Honesty = weakness. Compromise = weakness.

They consider their very existence to be superior in every way to anyone who doesn't hate weakness as much as they do. They consider liberals to be weak people that are inferior, almost a different species, and the fact that liberals are so weak is why they have to unite in large numbers, which they find disgusting, but it's that disgust that is a true expression of their natural superiority.

Go ahead and try to have a logical, rational conversation with them. Just keep in mind what I said here and be forewarned.”

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Newsbroke is back! Francesca explains the myths of American Individualism and the American Dream and why they're literally killing us during the COVID-19 pandemic. Worth watching and sharing.
https://youtu.be/rVxSfX_nCr8

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This week marks six months since Breonna Taylor was killed. Six months since Louisville police broke into her apartment while she slept. Six months since police fired multiple rounds of bullets into her apartment. Six months of millions calling for justice and taking to the streets to demand accountability. Six months of Kentucky officials like Attorney General Daniel Cameron staying silent. But the demands for justice for Breonna Taylor won’t stop. Not until the systemic failures that led to Breonna’s murder are addressed. More than 11 million people have taken action on a petition started by student Loralei HoJay to call for change in the wake of Breonna Taylor’s killing. Tonight, during the opening Sunday night game of the NFL season, two ads will run in Kentucky showing the power of this movement, and urging people to keep the pressure on Kentucky lawmakers to get justice. See the ad now.

Watch the ad and share it here

The deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Rayshard Brooks, along with the shooting of Jacob Blake and countless other acts of police violence have put the issue of police reform in the spotlight this summer. New powerful legislation – the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act – would help address this issue. Democrats and Republicans came together to propose the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. This law will ban discriminatory profiling, chokeholds, carotid holds and no-knock warrants in drug cases. It will require training, a national police misconduct registry and use of body cams. You can take a moment now to tell your members of Congress to support this. Add your name to this petition and demand your lawmakers support the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Sign the petition.

Sign the petition and tell Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act

Millions of voices are demanding justice. Millions of voters want real, systemic police reform. And millions of Americans are going to keep saying Breonna Taylor’s name until there is accountability for her murder. Thank you for taking action, Mike Jones, Change.org *** Justice for Breonna Taylor Sign now with a click Breonna Taylor was an award-winning EMT and model citizen. She loved her family and community, working at two hospitals as an essential worker during the pandemic. Nearly four months ago, a division of the Louisville Police Department performed an illegal, unannounced drug raid on her home. Not a single officer announced themselves before ramming down her door and firing 22 shots, shooting Breonna 8 times, killing her. Not only were the police at the WRONG HOUSE, but the man they were looking for had already been arrested earlier that day.  1. Charges must be filed immediately. The officers involved, specifically John Mattingly, Brett Hankison, Myles Cosgrove, Joshua Jaynes, and any other law enforcement officer involved in the death and coverup of the death of Breonna Taylor must be fired, charged, and arrested immediately. There have been no charges thus far (it has been nearly 4 months). Their pensions must be revoked.  2. Her family must be paid in damages for wrongful death and the negligence of the LMPD.  3. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear must speak up on behalf of Breonna, and Governor Beshear or Attorney General Daniel Cameron must appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Louisville Police Department immediately. An in-house investigation is unacceptable.  4. The "no-knock" warrant that police had used in Breonna’s murder completely violates the constitutional rights to reasonable search and seizure. By law, police must be legally obligated to announce themselves before breaking and entering into a home privately owned by American civilians. Legislation to federally ban no-knock warrants must be passed in Congress and signed by the President; what happened to Breonna was a complete violation of her constitutional rights, and threatens the rights of all American citizens. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has voiced similar concerns. A special session must be intervened by Congress to discuss the constitutionality of no-knock warrants immediately.  This has carried on for over four months. For weeks, the city treated Breonna like she was a criminal, calling her a “suspect” before finally admitting that she was an innocent, crimeless victim. She had no drugs. She committed no crime. Yet, she is dead, and the perpetrators are facing no charges.  She was not only an exemplary citizen, but an essential one. She was a daughter, a friend, an American hero, and most importantly, a person. She deserved to be treated as such.  Let’s get justice for Breonna. Say her name. PLEASE help me get the word out, and share this campaign on your social media platforms. Thank you to everyone who is helping in our fight to get justice for Breonna. Sign now with a click Visit petition page