February 3
GUEST: Coco Das, member of the National Editorial Board of Refuse Fascism, talks about why white nationalists and racists have to be resisted in the streets as well as in the election booths.
We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America
Will there be a time when the far right in our country simply take control? Trump's plan certainly had a chance of overthrowing our government, by creating chaos, and then taking control using the National Guard. The pieces hadn't quite been put in place, however. His vice president wouldn't go along, nor would any number of top brass in the Pentagon. But it was closer than most of the media will admit.
Perhaps the establishment (white, well connected, rich and privileged) couldn't really see any advantage in capturing Congress and driving a stake through the US Constitution. Why bother with all that uncertainty? The elites of our nation already control the government and the armed forces. Billions are still coming into their offshore bank accounts, and their grip around the throats of working class Americans just keeps getting tighter. Any drama on the streets only calls into question a century of carefully planned class war.
Coco Das is talking about another way. From a left perspective, the violence of the right and the neoliberalism of our economy are but two aspects of the same fascism. After 1928, the most powerful German industrialists worked closely with Hitler's Nazi Party. In fact, they funded it, much like the Koch Brothers and other billionaires have paid for the Republican white nationalist movement.
Das sees an emerging left that will challenge these fascists in the streets. And perhaps she is right. Our Constitution was broken long ago, and only exists as a fig leave to cover a very destructive rule of the rich. Change will only come when a majority of our citizens realizes the power structure that actually exists, rather than the one our corporate controlled media paints for us.
