“A Republic if you can keep it!” Celebrating the Fourth of July by Resisting the Felon Reich

For many of us, this Fourth of July feels bitter. Instead of celebrating with friends and family, enjoying fireworks, picnics, and parades, we find ourselves fighting for the survival of our fellow human beings. In the first six months of the year, we’ve had the grim privilege of witnessing the horrifying emergence of the Felon Reich, as Der Fibber perfects his indifferent limp-writed Sieg Heil, the ICE Gazpacho Police channel their inner Brownshirts, and the Republican Congress and Supremes practice their goose-step.

We compromised with the slavers in the drafting of our Constitution, and it led to the Civil War. We enforced the Constitution during Reconstruction, and it created such bitterness that it corrupted the presidential election of 1877, spawning a century of Jim Crow. Now, we’re living through the backlash against the success of the Civil Rights Movement which ended Jim Crow and culminated in the election of Barack Obama.

The mass round-up and deportation of immigrants, green card holders, tourists, and citizens with or without documentation, in spite of court hearings, or due to social media postings is just the latest iteration of our struggle to make our nation a more perfect union and grant everyone equal rights before the law to everyone, and not just to white Christians that live up to the hypocritical puritanical standards that they expect the rest of us to live up to.

In some ways, this era feels different. We’ve never had a Supreme Court grant the president blanket immunity, but only if it is the president that the Supremes wanted elected. We’ve never had a Supreme Court block lower courts from issuing national injunctions against presidential actions. And, we’ve never had a Supreme Court rule against the Constitution in favor of a conflicting executive order.

We’ve never had a Congress that created a massive secret militarized police force and concentration camp system. We’ve never had a government so systematically and smugly wield its overwhelming powers against its political opponents.

So, this Independence Day, ask yourself: what will it take to stop this juggernaut of fascism?

Suggestions from Ye Olde Blogge for Resistance

First: Mass Peaceful Protest

Lets harken back to the halcyon days of yore, those idyllic times during the summer of 2020, when the streets were alive with peaceful #BLM protests, murderous armed right-wing activists, and the proto-Brownshirts attempting to provoke a violent response from the Wall o’ Moms and Dad Pod in Portland.

Historically, the most effective response to fledgling authoritarian tyranny is MASS PEACEFUL protest. The first step is to identify with the protesters. Recognize that they have a legitimate grievance to petition our government for redress for as guaranteed in the First Amendment. You don’t have to agree one hundred percent with their grievance, you just need to recognize that their First and Fourth Amendment rights need to be preserved.
On Tyranny Or How to Tell If You’re Living in an Authoritarian Regime and What to do about It

The good news? We’ve got this one down. The No Kings protest on June 14 showed that resistance to our country’s fascisting is both massive and peaceful.

In a previous post titled #RESISTANCE: Non-Violent Resistance, the Gandhi, edition, I highlighted examples of successful mass peaceful protests: non-violent action helped bring down the Soviet Union — thanks, Lech Walesa of Solidarity and Poland fame — rescued 90% of Danish Jews during WWII, advanced our Civil Rights legislation of 1964 and 1965, and ran the Ol’ Pussy Grabber’s paramilitary forces out of Portland. Non-violent resistance works.

It has worked before, it will work again. We must be loud and in the streets until the fascists scurry back under the kitchen cabinets, too fearful to emerge in the light of day.

Second: Decide What You’re Willing To Do

The future is unpredictable, so we must prepare for various scenarios. In resisting this fascist state, consider what you’re willing and unwilling to do. The more prepared you are, the more effectively you can respond.

Protest Marches

Big and small protests are almost certain. Will you attend? Add your voice to the crowd? Make your sign? Shout and sing the songs of resistance? Appear on social and local media?

Join local groups that organize protests and marches. Indivisible, No Kings, Move On, 50501, or your state’s Democratic Party.

Contacting Government Officials

It’s crucial that your government office holders at all levels hear from you, but especially your members of Congress regardless of their party affiliation or whether you think they’ll “listen” to you or not. Call, email, send postcards, make appointments, go to town halls, at them on social media, show up unannounced at their local offices. They need to know we’re here, we vote, and we care about their actions.

While this might not be as sexy as going to protests or screaming at Mike Johnson’s hapless phone-answering intern, it is vital and necessary.

So, do your best to make it rewarding. Organize groups of friends and family members to make your calls together. Turn it into a game — perhaps a day-drinking game — whatever gets you engaged.

Taking Risks

The Risk of Violence and Physical Injury

With the rapid evolution of ICE into a secret state police and Der Fibber’s soaring fascist rhetoric, it is important to consider which risks you’re willing to take and which you’re not. I vividly remember watching Gandhi in a London theater in 1983 and being struck by the dedication of the satyagrahis (civil resisters) to endure the horrific beatings that the police and soldiers of the government would give them. The protests were amazingly effective because of the absolute lack of resistance by the protesters. The experience of beating people who were willing to be beaten just unmade the police. It destroyed them mentally. They would beat the same people over and over again because they kept returning. If you haven’t seen the movie, it maybe streaming on Netflix.

So, are you willing to to physically suffer to defeat fascism? Are you willing to be beaten by the ICE gazpacho police? Are you willing to be attacked by violent right-wing counter protesters, provocateurs, or militia without fighting back? It’s okay if you leave once the reactionary forces show up, but if it comes down to it, how committed are you to non-violence to resistance? Are you willing to risk physical injury to your person to defeat fascism?

The Risk of Being Arrested

I remember during the Reign of Error, the venerable Jane Fonda being arrested on the steps of the capital in October 2019 during a climate protest. She followed — whether she knew it or not is another matter — Gandhi’s guidance to submit to the authorities without resistance when arrested. She set an example for all of us. Of course, she is Jane Fonda who has several things going for her that we don’t: she’s a celebrity; she’s well-off if not down right rich; she’s elderly; she has a lawyer on retainer; and she’s been arrested before.

Being arrested is no small matter. I remember joining an Earth First group in the early ’80’s. We were planning an activity which might result in participants being arrested. I insisted that we have a bail fund because we were kids, poor students, and easily lost in the system without someone on the outside to bail you out and check on you.

If you’re planning on doing something that could get you arrested, you should plan accordingly. Even if there is only a small chance, you should have a contingency plan just in case.

Third: The Defeat of Fascism

The Danes successfully resisted German occupation during WWII, rescuing 7,500 or the country’s 8,000 Jews. There were instances of violence, sabotage and execution of informants, but the average citizen participated in the non-violent resistance. They followed their Ten Commandments of Being a Good Dane created by a seventeen year-old Arne Sejr in 1940. Some of the commandments are applicable to our situation:

1. You must not go to work in Germany and Norway.
2. You shall do a bad job for the Germans.
3. You shall work slowly for the Germans.
4. You shall destroy important machines and tools.
5. You shall destroy everything that may be of benefit to the Germans.
6. You shall delay all transport.
7. You shall boycott German and Italian films and papers.
8. You must not shop at Nazis’ stores.
9. You shall treat traitors for what they are worth.
10. You shall protect anyone chased by the Germans.

In the end, over 750,000 people participated in demonstrations for Danish identity and culture, but, really against German occupation.

Our resistance to the Felon Reich will require all of us. We can all be good Danes and gum up the works. It won’t be the corporations. It won’t be the Courts. It won’t be Congress. It won’t be the next election. It will be us. We must commit to civil disobedience and mass peaceful protests.

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