Excellent article. It reminds me of my growing-up years in the 1950s, when my teachers told us that the Communist state in Russia encouraged children to rat out their parents when they wavered from the official line. It sent shivers up my spine, and still does today!
Brilliant writing, professor! I had no idea so much of the playbook of Euro-fascists from the 20th Cent is now being adopted by our GOP. There is far too much silence from our liberal elected officials and other leaders on this trajectory.
The total lack of a cohesive, liberal frame (vision) for America allows for this void to be filled by the dominant paradigm in America today, known as the "Culture War." We have NO left-of-center frame that promotes a caring and collaborative world view. Liberals are rooted in policy proposals and governmental programs. I feel pained, from this realization ... that there is NO emotional, heart and soul as the basis for our beliefs. AND, we do indeed have a values system ...
Seventy years ago, the Civil Rights movement was led by a theological call for "Liberty and Justice for All." This IS the social justice core, of the teachings of Jesus: this is the basis of liberals' values, spirituality and inspiration.
Let us renew this clarion call, for this ties together all of our disparate, special interests. Lady Liberty beckons!
These “teachings”, that will be distorted, will be at the core of a rising fascist movement, that will be unrivaled in the history of humanity. The world is ripe for the pickings. So many sheep, who think they know. Stand guard my friend.
You have shown so clearly the path MAGA followers are marching on. My belief is that every organization like the DNC and Democratically focused PAC should spend the majority of their marketing budgets on FOX News, FB and other right wing media outlets vividly showing the eventual loss of freedom, we ALL will lose, if our country heads on the MAGA path.
Congratulations on your badge of achievement. I hold those badges in highest esteem. Important to remember that social media, Twitter, can collect information on people very easily. For those of us who are active in the fight against fascism, the need to guard one’s personal information is essential. Although more exposure equals increased likelihood of threat, I have found out the community, in which one lives, is more than willing to provide information on whom they deem as dissident. As the political vitriol rises, so will the attacks. It’s comes with the territory. Above all, safety first. Thanks Ruth.
Speaking of loyalty oaths and authoritarian purging of political dissent from institutions, educational and otherwise, Trump just last week promised during a speech that if he is elected (God forbid) he will require all government employees in the civil service to sign loyalty oaths. Make no mistake, no institution public or private would be spared Trump's wrath. Informers and spies would be all over the place. Though there would be resistance, a chilling effect would settle upon the country. Its long tradition of free expression of ideas would choke under assault.
Trump's sadistic and narcissistic demand for loyalty would rival if not exceed any dictator or strongman. And the consequences for disloyalty to the autocrat would often be cruel and devastating. Threats ,intimidation, investigations, violence and jail time would be meted out on a regular basis. Paranoia and suspicion would be everywhere in Trump's fascist America.
It's like Jason Stanley says, "the politics of us and them".
Once a nation is polarized into two warring camps, it becomes a hellscape of hate. It will take years to convince people that they've been fooled. Some will never learn.
The convincing of MAGAheads needs to start now. The DNC and PACs that support our democracy need to show, via marketing on Fox, FB etc., the ugly results that are guaranteed to occur should we elect an authoritarian/fascist government.
Unfortunately, these MAGA types do not believe that what they support is fascism. There needs to be an epiphany on their part. They believe that fascism is a leftist political system, at least that's what I hear from my MAGA in-laws.
O dear Ruth, thank you for sharing in detail the relation between your being on the Professor WatchList and the Republican, read Fascist, emergence we are seeing today. Vote people, vote. All are created equal. This ideal we must cherish. There is so much to do to change where we are at as a country. Let the indictments and convictions of Trump and Fox show who lies and what the truth is. Stay strong and courageous, Ruth, your voice is so important!
Very well said Professor! Thank you for writing this and publishing it. I have been thinking about contacting some of my favorite teachers to thank them for all they taught me and to let them know that they have had a lifelong impact on me. After reading this I now wonder if any of them were also treated so egregiously! And I find myself wondering even more what was up with the students that often interrupted our classes with their faith based takes on the subject at hand. Ultimately I think I will still thank them for what they did for me and leave the disruptors to live with their own consciences' =]
"...the Koch-funded Turning Point organization..."
Charles Koch has long been a believer in authoritarianism, because he feels that democracy interfers with capitalism. He wants a corporate state, which is totally contrary to the Constitution. It's hard to believe that so many Americans have sided with this radical Libertarian stance and given up on democracy. Trump was selling something very similar to what Charles Koch envisioned. It's interesting to note that both men are sociopaths. Those who view themselves as demigods love the authoritarian structure. They don't tolerate dissent, so learning institutions are a threat to their power.
The war on public education has been stimulated by the right wing evangelical movement which seeks power and influence, not freedom to learn! Trump was elected in 2016 on their backs!
Steve, please define what you mean by “Christo-fascism.” You need to flesh it out more. Many of the usually mainline Christian denominations are and have been at the forefront of the anti fascism movement. Of course many authoritarian newer denominations are not.
Christo-fascism was defined by author and Harvard Seminary graduate, Chris Hedges. It is based on radical Calvinism and seeks a Christian theocracy here in the US. It is also known as Dominionism. It is structured in a fascist manner. The book describing all of this by Hedges is called "American Fascists".
And, the concept has expanded and is, at an alarming rate. Those on the “forefront” of the anti-fascist movement, won’t be. People will choose. Thanks Steve. “Beyond Belief”, Ellie Hardy. Good read.
The parallels are truly horrifying. But also, we have a Bill of Rights, mixed public/private education system and computer networking tech that makes publishing easier today. Our institutions and tech are better situated than they were in Il Duce's Italy. Thank goodness. And maybe more critical, we have this history/memory that Prof. Ben-Ghiat reminds us. Thats why we can say "Never again"
"assault on educators in America who expose students to ideals of peace, equality, justice, and compassion...a calculated plan to erode democratic models of education and reward authoritarian models of social relations"
Spot on. Fighting back against these goons means staying true to those ideals of peace, equality, justice, compassion and propagating them. Decency. In that light, Joseph Campbell mind blowing ideas work in comparative mythology is, imo, the perfect antidote for fascism - I wrote about it a few months ago in my free blog:
What a coincidence! A Chinese Police Station located in Chinatown NYC and run by the Chinese govt was just busted for its spying and intimidating activities on American and foreign citizens. The ‘policemen’ were American citizens! Ruth’s article was spot on!
Calculated, that’s what the Republican MAGA cult is charged to do in congress. It is the assisted cultivation of American society to usher in a fascists platform. Technocrats and oligarchs are invested in MAGA and AI to assist in the sustainability of this model of power and control. For these plutocrats it is imperative to eliminate a constitutional democracy of principles dependent upon We the People, of the People, For the People. AI cannot perform its purpose with free thinking people standing in its way.
US government agencies like the FBI have used the informer methodology to sow chaos in legal organizations that have the temerity to disagree with federal policy and expose corruption going back to the 1960s.
I am thinking of COINTELPRO, specifically, -a division of the FBI established in the 1960s to infiltrate student and minority legal organizations and NGOs. They used the device of "bad jacketing" with particular effectiveness and efficiency.
Take the case of Anna Mae Aquash,(MicMac) a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who worked with the Lakota traditional people on Pine Ridge Reservation, SD, to oppose the illegal reign of terror perpetrated by Richard Wilson with the backup of the FBI and US Marshals and encroachment of companies poisoning their local water supply with uranium spills (sound familiar?). The FBI colluded with an agent (Douglas Durrham) secretly embedded within SD AIM and working in concert with FBI Special Agent David Price to convinced AIM leadership that she was an FBI informant.
In January 1975, her body was found in a remote location on the reservation with a bullet wound to the back of her head, execution style. The FBI further covered up their crime by cutting off her hands to prevent her identification and having their coroner claim she, "died of exposure". It was only after her family suspecting the worst exhumed her body (listed as Jane Doe) to have their own medical examiner discover the truth. Many years later two AIM members were convicted of her murder but no investigation was ever done of Durrham's or the FBI's role in her execution.
Signature COINTELPRO tactics such as this one are commonplace today in Indian Country and among Black activist organizations despite the FBI claiming to have disbanded the division on the order of the Church Commission in 1977. We can expect to see a lot more of this if the fascists take the presidency and Congress in 2024.
The movie was Thunderheart. It was actually filmed on Pine Ridge and it went as far as it could in describing the reign of terror that plagued the community from 1973 (Siege at Wounded Knee) until 1975 (murder of the two FBI agents on the Jumping Bull property). Some of the AIM leaders had cameo appearances and one of them, John Trudell, had a significant part in it. The filmmakers and actors (Val Deming's and Graham Greene) were blacklisted for several years for having the courage to bring the story to screen.
Oops! I meant to say Val Kilmer. The important message here is that the use of informers in a fascist environment is multi-pronged. Not only do they effectively curtail freedom of speech, they also are used to break and neutralize legal organizations working for democracy from within through their methods of "bad jacketing" the most effective elements within them. Rather than focusing on outward goals of resisting authoritarianism and restoring democracy, the organizations spin their wheels internally trying to guess who is a traitor. As in the Aquash case, this has deadly results. In Thunderheart, the story of why the woman was killed had to be altered or the FBI would have had substance for banning the film. The character who displayed a better example of the FBI tactics was the one who appeared to be handicapped but was really a paid informant.
As for art imitating life: A man who had been hired by the FBI to assassinate Leonard Peltier while in Lompoc Prison, CA, another prisoner named Standing Deer Wilson, was himself assassinated after he was let out and making "good trouble" in Houston. Rather than kill Peltier, Standing Deer revealed the plot to the DOJ and was thereupon marked for revenge by the FBI. In January 2000, another Native prisoner (Smashed Ice) convicted of 2nd degree murder was let out of an Ohio prisoner after serving only 1 year of a life sentence. He made his way to Houston and stabbed Standing Deer more than 50 times in his apartment.
Standing Deer was a personal friend of mine. I had spoken to him not 2 hours before his murder. He had taken Smashed Ice in b/c he had nowhere to stay and referred to him in our conversation. Smashed Ice was convicted of Standing Deer's murder and served only five years for it.
The role of paid government informers and civilian agents is far more varied. Under a fascist authoritarian system we can expect to see a lot more of this kind of thing. The mechanisms are already in place, all they need are the orders from those who have the power.
My comment on COINTELPRO and the murder of Anna Mae Aquash is best described in Peter Matthiessen's excellent document of what happened in the 1970s in Indian Country entitled, "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse." The FBI managed to block its publication for several years until it won on the basis of the First Amendment rights of the author being upheld in court in 1983. It has since been updated by the author to further document the suppression of Native rights and the ongoing reign of terror into the 1990s.
If you want to purchase a copy, may I recommend going to the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (ILPDC) website and get it there. You will be funding the efforts of an organization that has been trying to secure the freedom of Leonard Peltier, a Native activist who was railroaded by the FBI for the death of two of their agents in 1975. He is in his 48th year of incarceration for a crime that even those responsible for convicting him now say he didn't commit. html://whoisleonardpeltier.com
Thank you for sharing.
Excellent article. It reminds me of my growing-up years in the 1950s, when my teachers told us that the Communist state in Russia encouraged children to rat out their parents when they wavered from the official line. It sent shivers up my spine, and still does today!
Brilliant writing, professor! I had no idea so much of the playbook of Euro-fascists from the 20th Cent is now being adopted by our GOP. There is far too much silence from our liberal elected officials and other leaders on this trajectory.
The total lack of a cohesive, liberal frame (vision) for America allows for this void to be filled by the dominant paradigm in America today, known as the "Culture War." We have NO left-of-center frame that promotes a caring and collaborative world view. Liberals are rooted in policy proposals and governmental programs. I feel pained, from this realization ... that there is NO emotional, heart and soul as the basis for our beliefs. AND, we do indeed have a values system ...
Seventy years ago, the Civil Rights movement was led by a theological call for "Liberty and Justice for All." This IS the social justice core, of the teachings of Jesus: this is the basis of liberals' values, spirituality and inspiration.
Let us renew this clarion call, for this ties together all of our disparate, special interests. Lady Liberty beckons!
Right on! Well written response!
Teachings of Jesus.
These “teachings”, that will be distorted, will be at the core of a rising fascist movement, that will be unrivaled in the history of humanity. The world is ripe for the pickings. So many sheep, who think they know. Stand guard my friend.
'So many sheep, who think they know' -- is such an accurate assessment.
You have shown so clearly the path MAGA followers are marching on. My belief is that every organization like the DNC and Democratically focused PAC should spend the majority of their marketing budgets on FOX News, FB and other right wing media outlets vividly showing the eventual loss of freedom, we ALL will lose, if our country heads on the MAGA path.
Congratulations on your badge of achievement. I hold those badges in highest esteem. Important to remember that social media, Twitter, can collect information on people very easily. For those of us who are active in the fight against fascism, the need to guard one’s personal information is essential. Although more exposure equals increased likelihood of threat, I have found out the community, in which one lives, is more than willing to provide information on whom they deem as dissident. As the political vitriol rises, so will the attacks. It’s comes with the territory. Above all, safety first. Thanks Ruth.
Speaking of loyalty oaths and authoritarian purging of political dissent from institutions, educational and otherwise, Trump just last week promised during a speech that if he is elected (God forbid) he will require all government employees in the civil service to sign loyalty oaths. Make no mistake, no institution public or private would be spared Trump's wrath. Informers and spies would be all over the place. Though there would be resistance, a chilling effect would settle upon the country. Its long tradition of free expression of ideas would choke under assault.
Trump's sadistic and narcissistic demand for loyalty would rival if not exceed any dictator or strongman. And the consequences for disloyalty to the autocrat would often be cruel and devastating. Threats ,intimidation, investigations, violence and jail time would be meted out on a regular basis. Paranoia and suspicion would be everywhere in Trump's fascist America.
It's like Jason Stanley says, "the politics of us and them".
Once a nation is polarized into two warring camps, it becomes a hellscape of hate. It will take years to convince people that they've been fooled. Some will never learn.
The convincing of MAGAheads needs to start now. The DNC and PACs that support our democracy need to show, via marketing on Fox, FB etc., the ugly results that are guaranteed to occur should we elect an authoritarian/fascist government.
Unfortunately, these MAGA types do not believe that what they support is fascism. There needs to be an epiphany on their part. They believe that fascism is a leftist political system, at least that's what I hear from my MAGA in-laws.
Loyalty oaths = dangerous
O dear Ruth, thank you for sharing in detail the relation between your being on the Professor WatchList and the Republican, read Fascist, emergence we are seeing today. Vote people, vote. All are created equal. This ideal we must cherish. There is so much to do to change where we are at as a country. Let the indictments and convictions of Trump and Fox show who lies and what the truth is. Stay strong and courageous, Ruth, your voice is so important!
Vote -- now is the time for us to work on that concept. Talk within our communities.
Very well said Professor! Thank you for writing this and publishing it. I have been thinking about contacting some of my favorite teachers to thank them for all they taught me and to let them know that they have had a lifelong impact on me. After reading this I now wonder if any of them were also treated so egregiously! And I find myself wondering even more what was up with the students that often interrupted our classes with their faith based takes on the subject at hand. Ultimately I think I will still thank them for what they did for me and leave the disruptors to live with their own consciences' =]
The ideal MAGA state appears to be a hybrid of East Germany (c. 1950s - 1980s), Margaret Atwood's Gilead, Taliban Afghanistan and Salem, MA (c. 1692).
Salem, MA--- Well, MAGA sure has the collective delusion seen in the Salem witch paranoia. Collective delusion is a part of fascism.
"...the Koch-funded Turning Point organization..."
Charles Koch has long been a believer in authoritarianism, because he feels that democracy interfers with capitalism. He wants a corporate state, which is totally contrary to the Constitution. It's hard to believe that so many Americans have sided with this radical Libertarian stance and given up on democracy. Trump was selling something very similar to what Charles Koch envisioned. It's interesting to note that both men are sociopaths. Those who view themselves as demigods love the authoritarian structure. They don't tolerate dissent, so learning institutions are a threat to their power.
... corporate state. Concise descriptor.
The war on public education has been stimulated by the right wing evangelical movement which seeks power and influence, not freedom to learn! Trump was elected in 2016 on their backs!
It's an easy transition from Christo-fascism to political fascism.
Steve, please define what you mean by “Christo-fascism.” You need to flesh it out more. Many of the usually mainline Christian denominations are and have been at the forefront of the anti fascism movement. Of course many authoritarian newer denominations are not.
Christo-fascism was defined by author and Harvard Seminary graduate, Chris Hedges. It is based on radical Calvinism and seeks a Christian theocracy here in the US. It is also known as Dominionism. It is structured in a fascist manner. The book describing all of this by Hedges is called "American Fascists".
Strange coincidence with the term 'dominion' with today's news. Makes me wonder why they chose that corporate name!
And, the concept has expanded and is, at an alarming rate. Those on the “forefront” of the anti-fascist movement, won’t be. People will choose. Thanks Steve. “Beyond Belief”, Ellie Hardy. Good read.
Another poignant piece. Thank you.
The parallels are truly horrifying. But also, we have a Bill of Rights, mixed public/private education system and computer networking tech that makes publishing easier today. Our institutions and tech are better situated than they were in Il Duce's Italy. Thank goodness. And maybe more critical, we have this history/memory that Prof. Ben-Ghiat reminds us. Thats why we can say "Never again"
"assault on educators in America who expose students to ideals of peace, equality, justice, and compassion...a calculated plan to erode democratic models of education and reward authoritarian models of social relations"
Spot on. Fighting back against these goons means staying true to those ideals of peace, equality, justice, compassion and propagating them. Decency. In that light, Joseph Campbell mind blowing ideas work in comparative mythology is, imo, the perfect antidote for fascism - I wrote about it a few months ago in my free blog:
https://radmod.substack.com/p/thus-answered-joseph-campbell
What a coincidence! A Chinese Police Station located in Chinatown NYC and run by the Chinese govt was just busted for its spying and intimidating activities on American and foreign citizens. The ‘policemen’ were American citizens! Ruth’s article was spot on!
Thanks for sharing this, it's so outta this world for me.
Calculated, that’s what the Republican MAGA cult is charged to do in congress. It is the assisted cultivation of American society to usher in a fascists platform. Technocrats and oligarchs are invested in MAGA and AI to assist in the sustainability of this model of power and control. For these plutocrats it is imperative to eliminate a constitutional democracy of principles dependent upon We the People, of the People, For the People. AI cannot perform its purpose with free thinking people standing in its way.
AI -- something to behold. Seems to be a moving faster than we can keep up with it.
US government agencies like the FBI have used the informer methodology to sow chaos in legal organizations that have the temerity to disagree with federal policy and expose corruption going back to the 1960s.
I am thinking of COINTELPRO, specifically, -a division of the FBI established in the 1960s to infiltrate student and minority legal organizations and NGOs. They used the device of "bad jacketing" with particular effectiveness and efficiency.
Take the case of Anna Mae Aquash,(MicMac) a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who worked with the Lakota traditional people on Pine Ridge Reservation, SD, to oppose the illegal reign of terror perpetrated by Richard Wilson with the backup of the FBI and US Marshals and encroachment of companies poisoning their local water supply with uranium spills (sound familiar?). The FBI colluded with an agent (Douglas Durrham) secretly embedded within SD AIM and working in concert with FBI Special Agent David Price to convinced AIM leadership that she was an FBI informant.
In January 1975, her body was found in a remote location on the reservation with a bullet wound to the back of her head, execution style. The FBI further covered up their crime by cutting off her hands to prevent her identification and having their coroner claim she, "died of exposure". It was only after her family suspecting the worst exhumed her body (listed as Jane Doe) to have their own medical examiner discover the truth. Many years later two AIM members were convicted of her murder but no investigation was ever done of Durrham's or the FBI's role in her execution.
Signature COINTELPRO tactics such as this one are commonplace today in Indian Country and among Black activist organizations despite the FBI claiming to have disbanded the division on the order of the Church Commission in 1977. We can expect to see a lot more of this if the fascists take the presidency and Congress in 2024.
I remember seeing a movie that was very similar to what you described about the reservation and Uranium and the killing of a native woman.
The movie was Thunderheart. It was actually filmed on Pine Ridge and it went as far as it could in describing the reign of terror that plagued the community from 1973 (Siege at Wounded Knee) until 1975 (murder of the two FBI agents on the Jumping Bull property). Some of the AIM leaders had cameo appearances and one of them, John Trudell, had a significant part in it. The filmmakers and actors (Val Deming's and Graham Greene) were blacklisted for several years for having the courage to bring the story to screen.
Oops! I meant to say Val Kilmer. The important message here is that the use of informers in a fascist environment is multi-pronged. Not only do they effectively curtail freedom of speech, they also are used to break and neutralize legal organizations working for democracy from within through their methods of "bad jacketing" the most effective elements within them. Rather than focusing on outward goals of resisting authoritarianism and restoring democracy, the organizations spin their wheels internally trying to guess who is a traitor. As in the Aquash case, this has deadly results. In Thunderheart, the story of why the woman was killed had to be altered or the FBI would have had substance for banning the film. The character who displayed a better example of the FBI tactics was the one who appeared to be handicapped but was really a paid informant.
As for art imitating life: A man who had been hired by the FBI to assassinate Leonard Peltier while in Lompoc Prison, CA, another prisoner named Standing Deer Wilson, was himself assassinated after he was let out and making "good trouble" in Houston. Rather than kill Peltier, Standing Deer revealed the plot to the DOJ and was thereupon marked for revenge by the FBI. In January 2000, another Native prisoner (Smashed Ice) convicted of 2nd degree murder was let out of an Ohio prisoner after serving only 1 year of a life sentence. He made his way to Houston and stabbed Standing Deer more than 50 times in his apartment.
Standing Deer was a personal friend of mine. I had spoken to him not 2 hours before his murder. He had taken Smashed Ice in b/c he had nowhere to stay and referred to him in our conversation. Smashed Ice was convicted of Standing Deer's murder and served only five years for it.
The role of paid government informers and civilian agents is far more varied. Under a fascist authoritarian system we can expect to see a lot more of this kind of thing. The mechanisms are already in place, all they need are the orders from those who have the power.
My comment on COINTELPRO and the murder of Anna Mae Aquash is best described in Peter Matthiessen's excellent document of what happened in the 1970s in Indian Country entitled, "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse." The FBI managed to block its publication for several years until it won on the basis of the First Amendment rights of the author being upheld in court in 1983. It has since been updated by the author to further document the suppression of Native rights and the ongoing reign of terror into the 1990s.
If you want to purchase a copy, may I recommend going to the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (ILPDC) website and get it there. You will be funding the efforts of an organization that has been trying to secure the freedom of Leonard Peltier, a Native activist who was railroaded by the FBI for the death of two of their agents in 1975. He is in his 48th year of incarceration for a crime that even those responsible for convicting him now say he didn't commit. html://whoisleonardpeltier.com