February 23
GUEST: Craig Johnson, writer
for the Jacobin and podcaster (Fifteen Minutes of Fascism),
talks about the global rise of the radical right and its base
in religion.
Lula
Is Giving a Lesson in How to Respond
Craig Johnson issued a wake up call to the United States. He talked about Lula's response to the far right in Brazil. Those who tried to overthrow the government there were dealt with harshly, with most sent to jail after the first day. In the US, things moved much more slowly, with analysis and judgements still coming out two years later. Our country's response to the January 6 uprising has been a slow motion dance.
In fact, Brazil and the US ended up in very different places after their far right rebellions. Brazil has been very effective in going after the people high up in their political system: the very rich and some of their corporations. Both coups had large networks of supporters, but the US criminal justice system left those elites alone.
As a result, the American people may never find out why the National Guard wasn't sent in immediately. We may never discover why the Capital Police were so woefully under prepared. There are glimpses, course. Why didn't the FBI's warnings ever reach those in charge? It is no wonder that our country is awash in conspiracy theories. We never get a straight answer on who funded, planned and implemented the most dangerous right wing coup in our nation's history.
These failures may lead us to our next right wing uprising. Countries that do nothing when their governments are invaded by armed and violent insurgents, are often doomed to repeat the experience. Both Mussolini and Hitler led armed rebellions before they finally destroyed their democracies. Mussolini was arrested for collecting arms to overthrow his government, and released the next day. Hitler was convicted of treason after his first coup, only to be released after nine months.
The higher ups who planned our January 6th uprising are still walking the halls of power. Will our democracy survive their next assault?
