Tag Archives: politics

To Each According to Their Need

Future Hope, , , ,

“To whatever extent we reach our potential in this world, my grandmother would be furious if I didn’t say that it was due to a combination of our individual talents and the societal conditions – the real existing material conditions, as a good Marxist might say – that have shaped our lives. But while she would probably not admit it, the faith in her eyes – the challenge to imagine with others a better world and actively move with them towards it, to engage in collective struggle to achieve a more humanistic society – that faith will always remain with us.”

–Dorothy Ray Healey remembrance, Jewish Women’s Archive

“Without vision, the people perish.” This famous quote from Proverbs 29:18 in the Old Testament is absolutely on target, based on my experiences over many years. A variation of this quote—if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there—underlines the danger of not having a vision. A road to nowhere is a dangerous road.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had a vision, summed up in the phrase, “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” Was this an original idea back then, 177 years ago? I don’t think so.

In his younger years Marx was connected to religion; he was baptized as a Lutheran at the age of six. He studied religion, ultimately leading him to develop his well-known critique of it as an “opiate of the people.”

The book of Acts is a religiously-oriented history of the first years and decades of the Christian church after Jesus of Nazareth was killed. In chapters two and four, it is made clear that in these early days of the Christian religion, the concept of “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need” was a central vision.

Here’s how it is described in Acts 2: 44-45: “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all as any had need.” And similarly in Acts 4: 32 and 34: “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. . . There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.”

I’m pretty sure that Dorothy Healey got this. She was the first socialist I ever heard quote Bible verses as she made her case from the podium speaking to hundreds of mostly young people at a national conference of the now-defunct New American Movement in 1974. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but I remember thinking that I wished I could do that. Why did I feel that way?

One reason is that I had generally positive experiences growing up in the church my parents took me to every Sunday, as well as with others in my extended family, especially my grandparents, who were devout Christians. But it was also because, as I became a peace and justice and impeach Nixon activist in my late teens and early 20’s, and as I was exposed to individuals who looked to Marx and Engels and “scientific socialism” as their “bible,” it seemed to me that one thing both had in common was a vision for a very different kind of society than the one dominating much of the world.

And let’s be real: what both also have in common is the corruption of the original vision of their founders as they grew politically stronger and more institutionalized. That is a reality that can never be forgotten, something those of us today need to study and learn from going forward.  

Healey tried to put the two positive visions together. She believed in Christian/Marxist unity. She may or may not have been an atheist, I don’t know, but her life was grounded in the best of both those worlds.

All of us have a responsibility to “imagine with others a better world and actively move with them towards it, to engage in collective struggle to achieve a more humanistic society” with the long term goal, one many of us will not see, of human societies where the abilities of all are used to meet the economic, social and cultural needs of all. We must hold fast to this vision whatever the odds against us right now.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Progressive Comradeship During the Trump Times

Future Hope, , , ,

I’ve noticed over the last couple of years younger progressive/revolutionary organizers using the word, “comrade,” to refer to other organizers. Is this a good idea?

During the days of McCarthyism in the 1950’s, and probably before then, self-righteous conservatives used this word as a smear against people on the political Left. “Comrade” was a word used before and after the Russian Revolution in 1917 by members of the Bolshevik Party which led that revolution and dominated the USSR government for decades afterwards. I suspect, without knowing for sure, that members of the Communist Party in the USA from the 1920’s on, at least until McCarthyite repression in the 50’s, used that term also, given the CPUSA’s very close connection to the Soviet CP during that time.

George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” published in 1945, had a lot to do with the comrade word becoming much more widely discredited. Animal Farm is the story of a revolution gone bad, corruption of once-revolutionary and brave leadership upon gaining power, and even as those bad things happen and demoralization sets in among many of the animals, use of the word comrade is continued by those in power.

As a young person growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s, I absorbed much of the dominant conservative ideology of those days and as a result never used, and still don’t use, the comrade word in any way. To me, it has been seen as a problematic word.

But there are other-than-leftist groups in the USA that use the word. Doing some google searching I learned that it is in use in both the US military and among veterans groups, which is surprising. Why would that be the case?

In a Random House dictionary published in 1966, they give three definitions for the word: “1) a person who shares closely in one’s activities, occupation, interests, etc: intimate companion, associate, or friend. 2) a fellow member of a fraternal group, political party, etc. 3) a member of the Communist Party or someone with strongly leftist views.”

I think it’s telling that the US military and veterans groups apparently use the word. Clearly, their doing so would fall under definitions 1 and 2, not 3. There is something about the word, something about the idea of comradeship, that connects people who are working “closely” together in a shared task, shared “interests.”

Many of us today, literally millions, are standing up and taking action against the Trumpfascists. 5 million or more took part in 2,200 local actions in all 50 states on June 14, No Kings! Day. Probably millions are going to take part in local “Good Trouble Lives On” actions on July 17, the 5th anniversary of the death of longtime freedom fighter John Lewis; there are already over 1,000 planned. And I feel a sense of comradeship, progressive comradeship, with this so-very-important mass political force, this popular resistance movement.

“Progressive comradeship:” that’s a phrase I’m comfortable with. It fits with definitions 1 and 2 above. It clarifies that this movement is broadly-based, representing tens of millions of people, going from “strong leftists,” including communists, on one pole to decent, concerned people on the other who believe in “one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

During Hakeem Jeffries’ record-breaking, 8 hour and 44 minutes, impressive speech right before the Big Ugly Bill was narrowly passed in the House of Representatives on July 3rd, he quoted more than once a passage from the Bible that clearly resonated with the many Democratic Congresspeople sitting, and sometimes standing in loud applause, behind him. That passage? Matthew 25: 35-40. It’s one that should undergird all that we do as we keep building and strengthening the Resistance.

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

We must do all we can as long as we are alive to try to bring into existence a world motivated by these words in Matthew. It’s a certainty that the warped and twisted, pro-oligarch, obscene policies of the current federal government, combined with the day-to-day organizing of the millions of us, is going to lead to many more millions joining with us in this profoundly important task history has placed before us.

Our mass democracy movement is now and must continue to be characterized by progressive comradeship in the way we interact and a deep, abiding love for others and the natural world. Nothing can defeat that kind of movement, nothing. We really can change the world.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Resisting the Death Cult

Other Writiings, , ,

It’s time to end the genocide in Gaza, time for a permanent ceasefire, time to stop sending weapons of war to Israel, time to bring home Israeli hostages and Palestinian political prisoners, time for massive shipments of food, water, medicine and more into Gaza and time for the US government to support in action the Palestinian right to self determination and justice.

It’s also time to demand that Donald Trump and his MAGA government stop collaborating with the coal, oil and gas industry and poisoning environmental justice communities like the Ironbound when it comes to US energy policy. This would-be fascist government wants to roll back hundreds of billions of dollars approved in 2022 for wind and solar energy, electric cars, buses and trains. and other clean and jobs producing energy. This is the kind of energy we must shift to as rapidly as possible if we are to avoid the breakdown of ecosystems and human societies worldwide.

It’s as if the MAGA’s were a death cult. Truly, and not just when it comes to energy policy.

Determined and fearless resistance to this regime, masses of people taking action in the streets and in all of the other ways, is what will ultimately lead to Trump and MAGA’s downfall, if we as a people’s movement strengthen our united front and use smart and strategic tactics that attract those not yet active to our cause.

Let me close with a prayer, an Anishinabe prayer I saw in the National Museum of the American Indian many years ago:

Grandfather, look at our brokenness.
We know that in all creation only the human family has strayed from the Sacred Way. We know that we are the ones who are divided, and we are the ones who must come back together to walk the Sacred Way.
Grandfather, Sacred One, teach us love, compassion and honor, that we may heal the earth and heal each other.

Turning Political Repression Into Movement Building

Future Hope, , , ,

My first years of progressive activism and organizing took place during the presidency of Richard Nixon, who, without a doubt, led one of the most repressive presidential administrations we have experienced in the United States in the modern era, prior to this Trump regime. It was under Nixon that the Republican Party, with its “southern strategy,” began to move toward becoming the kind of regressive entity that allowed pathological liar, racist, and convicted sexual abuser Donald Trump to be elected president in November 2016 and again in 2024.

During Nixon’s first term, from 1969 to 1973, he oversaw the use of government agencies to attempt to destroy groups like the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement and the Young Lords, including armed attacks by police that resulted in deaths. Newly enacted conspiracy laws were used to indict leaders of the peace movement and other movements. An entirely illegal and clandestine apparatus was created to sabotage the campaigns of his political opponents in the Democratic Party, leading to the midnight break-in at the Watergate Hotel that eventually led to the exposure of this apparatus and Nixon’s forced resignation from office in 1974.

I learned several things during those Nixon years about how to deal with government repression. Unfortunately, given Trump/MAGA’s attempts to replace US democracy with a fascist regime, those are very relevant lessons for today.

One critical lesson is that there is a disparity in the government treatment of people of color—Black, Latino/a, Indigenous and Asian—compared with the treatment of people of European descent—white people. The historical realities of settler military aggression, broken treaties, slavery, Jim Crow segregation, assumed white dominance, and institutionalized racism continue to have their negative, discriminatory impacts.

We are seeing this play out right now with the Trumpist arrests of Brown and Black immigrants, over 90% of whom, according to AI, have no criminal record. There can be little doubt that the intention is to use this racist campaign to establish a wholly new “justice” system which will increasingly come after not just immigrants but anyone who is consistently resisting their efforts to overturn democracy and install an authoritarian, repressive regime.

Those of us of European descent must be conscious of these realities and act accordingly, prioritizing right now the defense of immigrant rights. Very big numbers of us are stepping up, demonstrating and engaging in nonviolent action, risking and getting arrested, in opposition to what is happening with ICE in particular.

Government repression can’t be allowed to paralyze or divide organizations or movements. This is one of the objectives of an unjust government trying to repress those who challenge its policies and practices. That is one of the reasons why we need to be about the development of a movement culture that is respectful and healthy. Such a supportive cultural environment can help us weather this storm we are in and emerge from it stronger and better both as individual activists and organizers and as a mass progressive movement.

This is one of the necessary elements for successful resistance to government repression.

When I say “successful” I don’t mean that there won’t be casualties on our side, people behind bars, some for months or years, or people physically attacked and injured or worse, or deportation, job losses or greater economic hardship. It is clear that under a Trump/MAGA regime this is already happening and will continue and likely get worse, particularly for immigrants, people of color and low-income people generally.

Other things which can defend our rights and our movements are these:

-effective legal representation in court. It is good to see the way that many lawyers and progressive legal organizations are stepping up to defend immigrants and challenge the Trump executive orders issued so far;

-broad community support when repression happens. There are instances when ICE has attempted to arrest people and, on the spot, neighbors and others have prevented those arrests or, by their actions, have brought media attention to what is being attempted and, over time, have gotten people released from jail. It is a fact that there is a strong and extensive network of organizations nationally which is having an impact.

All of this can immediately or over time serve to undercut support for the Trumpists, strengthen our justice movement and hasten the time when the power of the organized people overcomes them on the way to the worldwide social, economic, environmental and cultural changes needed for humanity and all life forms to avoid ecosystem and societal breakdown.

Ultimately, what I have learned is that government repression can have a disruptive impact on our work, but we can turn a negative into a positive. The extent to which we can creatively, intelligently, and fearlessly demonstrate the truth of what we are about when responding to what they are doing to us is the extent to which we can have confidence that yes, we will win. Si, se puede!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Nonviolent Tactics and the Fascist Threat

Future Hope, , , ,

“Anger against injustice and oppression is not just legitimate; it is necessary to successfully build a movement for real change. But anger needs to be used in a disciplined way. Those who are quick to call cops “pigs” or throw bricks or otherwise display anger negatively are either government agents attempting to discredit the movement or people who need an intervention. They need to be taken aside and spoken with in a direct, to the point, and loving way about the counter-productiveness of what they are doing. Some will keep doing it, but others will change, maybe not right away but over time.”         Future Hope column, June 11, 2021

When violence, against cops or property, takes place during an action organized by progressive groups, who, in general, is such violence likely to come from? From my experience I’d say there are three sources:

-Government or corporate agents who are consciously using violence to try to discredit the cause people are demonstrating about.

-People at the demonstration who are very upset and pissed off, for good reason, about something the government, oppressive corporations and/or the police are doing and who lash out in response.

-Dedicated activists and organizers whose theory of change supports firebombings or other destruction of property, like police cars or, in LA recently, Tesla cars—in other words, targeted destruction to express outrage and do damage. Also in this category would be those who are quick to engage in street fighting with police.

I come to this discussion as someone who is not across-the-board against any destruction of property. During the Vietnam War I was part of the Catholic Left, initiated and led by Catholic priests Phil and Dan Berrigan, which went into Selective Service draft boards and destroyed files of potential draftees as a way to obstruct that war and build resistance to it. I spent 11 months in prison for one such action in Rochester, NY.

These actions were controversial within the peace movement back then. More moderate groups and individuals, including even some individuals who had burned their draft cards publicly, felt this was too provocative, could hurt the cause.

I didn’t think so at the time. For me as a 20 year old deeply outraged about the war in Vietnam, it met my need for action at the scale of the urgency of that situation. And since all of our actions were always done in a way that no one could ever be hurt or killed by what we did, with the possible exception of us if caught and arrested, I was good with this type of property destruction, especially as we became more effective at destroying files, for some actions in the thousands of them.

There were others of my generation who felt the same urgency I did who came together into the Weather Underground, which then carried out bombings of war-related targets. Three WU members were killed while making bombs; no one else was, but these actions were used by the Nixon Administration to prolong the war, just as Trump is now using the relativity small-scale property destruction and some fighting with police to try to ramp up military occupations not just in LA but possibly elsewhere.

Times are too serious for us to avoid movement-wide discussion about this issue.

It’s probably the case that some of those into street fighting or performative property violence are well aware that their actions will be used to increase repression on the part of the Trump regime and similarly-inclined state and local governments. They think that such repression is going to hasten “the revolution.”

It’s possible, probably likely, that some German Communists in the 20’s and 30’s who were more critical of the Social Democrats than the Nazis had this view. Here’s how AI describes this:

“During the 1930s in Germany, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) adopted a strategy of attacking the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as ‘social fascists,’ viewing them as allies of the capitalist system and thus an enemy of the revolution. This ‘social fascism’ theory, promoted by the Comintern (Communist International), led the KPD to actively oppose the SPD and even align with the Nazis in some instances. The KPD’s rejection of cooperation with the SPD is seen by some historians as a significant factor in the rise of the Nazi Party.”

Very fortunately, those on the Left espousing similar views as the KPD in Germany back then are in a very small minority. The vast majority of Leftists, as well as those who would have been called Social Democrats back then and the many who are more issue-oriented than ideological in their day-to-day work for progressive social change, systemic change, get it that what is absolutely the task of the moment right now is to build a very broad, massive, united movement against the attacks on US democracy, the efforts to create 21st century fascism in the United States.

This Saturday, on June 14th, we all must come out wherever we are to make the almost 2,000 No Kings! nonviolent actions taking place in every state on that day as massive as possible. Trump Must Go!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Trump-Must-Go Outreach Is Essential

Future Hope, , , ,

“Contact engenders more trust, more solidarity and more mutual kindness. It helps you see the world through other people’s eyes. (p. 358) . . . The thing we all need to remember is that those other folks are a lot like us. The angry voter venting on TV, the refugee in the statistics, the criminal in the mugshot: every one of them is a human being of flesh and blood, someone who in a different life might have been our friend, our family, our beloved. (p. 378) . . .Choose the path of compassion and you realize how little separates you from that stranger. Compassion takes you beyond yourself.” (p. 391)
-Humankind, A Hopeful History, by Rutger Bregman

How will we defeat the Trumpfascists and, ultimately, the military-corporate-fossil fuel-and more complex? Outreach to and the winning over of some Trump voters is an absolute essential.

Many of those voters are low income and working class, but many in that category are also infected with racist, sexist and heterosexist ideas, which Trump/MAGA, like hateful bigots before them going way back, has skillfully played upon to win their support.

How can a significant number of these people come to realize that their real interests lie not with the billionaire class which Trump represents but with the multi-racial, multi-gender working class, which is 2/3 or more of the total US population, and progressives generally?

One way is through our organizations taking up in a serious way issues that are important to them, like the defense of Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security; for universal health care for all regardless of income; the building of millions of homes and units of decent, affordable housing; and support of the right to form unions to protect worker rights on the job. We must actively oppose Trump’s economy-hurting, insane tariff war and pro-ultra-rich economic policies. There is no question that talking up and taking up these issues is absolutely essential.

But HOW thiswork is done is critical; it must absolutely include face-to-face interactions with Trump voters and others affected by MAGA/hateful/divisive ideology.

One resource to help us in doing this work is a book written over half a century ago, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by the late Brazilian educator, organizer and author Paulo Freire.

How should this work be done? Freire wrote: “The correct method lies in dialogue. The conviction of the oppressed that they must fight for their liberation is not a gift bestowed by the revolutionary leadership, but the result of their own conscientization. . . Dialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of a profound love for the world and for people. Love is at the same time the foundation of dialogue and dialogue itself. Because love is an act of courage, not of fear, love is commitment to others. . . Only by abolishing the situation of oppression is it possible to restore the love which that situation made impossible. If I do not love the world—if I do not love life—if I do not love people—I cannot enter into dialogue.”  (pps. 53, 77)

And this is where the compassion which Roger Bregman wrote about in his useful book, Humankind, comes in.

Last fall I spent a lot of time in Allentown, Pa. and its suburbs door-knocking to get Kamala Harris elected in areas that included a decent percentage of Trump voters. I had dozens of interactions with such people. I doubt that I was able to get very many, if any, to change their votes; most of the time I spent doing this work was when there were relatively few voters who hadn’t already made up their minds. But the experience of doing it was personally rewarding.

As I expected, the vast majority of those who told me they were voting for or leaning towards voting for Trump were not hostile towards me, even when we got into some pretty substantive back and forth. Why? One reason was because I tried hard to really listen to what they were saying. I genuinely wanted to understand better what were their reasons. Another was because I was always able to appreciate that “those other folk are a lot like us,” like me. After 75 years of living I had learned that “there but for fortune go I,” that if my upbringing had been different, if the views of my parents, in particular, had been on the opposite end of the political spectrum, I might have been a Trump voter myself.

Micah in the Biblical chapter 6, verse 8 put it concisely: “And what does the Lord ask of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” [the best within you].

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Trump’s First Four Months

Future Hope, , , ,

Today marks four months since would-be dictator Trump took office. How is the progressive resistance doing in its urgent battle to prevent what Trump and the MAGA’s want to impose?

In early February, a few weeks into this time of testing, I identified our objectives over the next two years as “making as many advances as we can on local and state levels while preventing as much damage as possible to the primary MAGA targets: US democracy, human and civil rights, including internationally, organized labor and programs that benefit low- and moderate-income working people, and the natural environment on which all life depends.” I put forward five areas of focus, five tactics, that I thought were critical for successful resistance: street heat, local/state/federal government, courts, media and publicity, and outreach.

I think the most important development over these months has been the emergence of massive, repeated and geographically widespread street heat, millions of us demonstrating in state capitols, in DC, at Tesla dealerships, in thousands of towns in every single state. The high point so far was three and a half million of us in the streets for the April 5th “Hands Off” actions, but the many other national days of action, beginning with 50501’s February 5th mobilization, have all been critical to building a widespread spirit of resistance.

June 14th, No Kings Day, is the next major nationwide action, and with 880  actions already on the calendar, there is reason to believe this will be bigger than April 5th. We should all do whatever we can to make it so!

These actions have undoubtedly strengthened not just those of us taking part in them but others: law firms, Harvard and other major universities, judges, media figures, faith leaders and more. Indeed, courage is contagious, and on that front we should feel good about what we have accomplished so far.

As far as the courts, according to the Associated Press, as of today 158 Trump executive orders, or 76% of them, have either been blocked or are pending, with 49, or 24%, taking effect. These are not good numbers for the Trumpfascists and a sign that they are going to have a hard time doing all that they want to do.

It’s also significant that the Supreme Court in a number of cases has refused to do Trump’s bidding. There are clear signs that for not just the three liberal judges but also some conservatives, especially Roberts and Barrett, there are substantial concerns about Trump’s efforts to dominate both Congress and the courts.

What about Congress? As I write the Republicans who run the House of Representatives with a tiny majority are struggling to pass the reconciliation bill, ridiculously named the “Big Beautiful Bill,” that they have been working on for months. If eventually passed, and that’s a definite “if,” the Republican-run Senate is by no means ready to approve what the House comes up with. There are many internal differences, some strongly felt, both within the overall House and on the part of more than a few Senators in relation to how and what the House is doing.

That is why many groups, right now, are organizing to mobilize massive pressure on members of the House. All of us should be flooding House members demanding, if Democrats, that they speak out and do whatever they can to frustrate MAGA plans. Even more important, pressure is needed on Republicans, especially those who are in Congressional districts that are expected to be competitive in 2026.

As far as media and publicity, our actions in the streets and the growing willingness of people and organized groups from a broad mix of backgrounds to speak up and resist have had an impact on more than the usual progressive media sources. The Wall Street Journal (!), as one big example, has been very critical of Trump, mainly for his poor leadership when it comes to the economy, especially the tariff debacle. Every once in a while Fox News people have had specific criticisms of what the Trump Administration is doing. Overall, in no way has the mass media, and certainly not progressive media, including social media, been cowed into silence and submission.

There are other indicators that the progressive resistance should take heart and keep on with our absolutely essential work:

-Where have the MAGA’s been when we have demonstrated repeatedly in the streets, including the streets in deep red states? I’ve heard of very, very few instances of any substantive, MAGA, in-person street opposition. This has to be in part because, as polls have shown, there is a lot of discontent among a significant percentage of Trump voters about his handling of the economy, particularly the tariff debacle.

-Bernie Sanders and AOC deserve a loud shout-out for the leadership they gave with their Fight Oligarchy tour of mainly red states, drawing thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of people to their rallies. That’s a huge example of the kind of outreach much needed over the coming months and years.

There is something special about this demonstration in action of the power of age and youth joining together, which has also been reflected in many of the street actions. Bernie and AOC are showing in action how to take on the MAGA’s in a way which also builds a strong independent people’s movement not controlled by the corporate-friendly wing of the Democratic Party.

-And what about Pope Leo 14? The Catholic Church, as male-dominated and hierarchical as it still is, has decided to continue the more progressive direction that the late Pope Francis worked to advance. We now have a new Pope from Chicago, an American who has already made clear he will speak out for those who the Trumpists are demonizing and deporting, criminalizing and hurting. For those who believe in a higher power, it could be seen as a sign that, despite Trump, despite Gaza, despite so many reasons not to have hope, there is hope.

It really is true that there ain’t no power like the power of the people, organized, and the power of the people don’t stop.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

End Times Fascism

Future Hope, , , ,

“Our opponents know full well that we are entering an age of emergency, but have responded by. . . choosing to let the Earth burn. Our task is to build a wide and deep movement, as spiritual as it is political, strong enough to stop these unhinged traitors. A movement rooted in a steadfast commitment to one another, across our many differences and divides, and to this miraculous, singular planet.”
-Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor, The Rise of End Times Fascism

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor have written a timely and important article published recently in The Guardian, The Rise of End Times Fascism. Clearly well researched, they have gone deep into what is the plan for the world of the Trumpfascists and their billionaire co-conspirators.

Two thoughts came to me as I reflected on the article. One is how much of what they say dovetails with the brilliant, satirical movie, Don’t Look Up, which ends with a rocket ship taking billionaire types and their front people in government to a supposedly safe planet light years away as a massive asteroid pulverizes the Earth because a billionaire prevented the action needed to neutralize it. Spoiler alert: it turns out that the safe planet wasn’t, which was a great ending.

The other thought was a remembrance of what I heard being said about 30 years ago by a decades-long, career military man who at the time had a high-level job at the Pentagon. In the quiet backyard of a northern Virginia house, he volunteered his belief, one clearly shared by others he worked with, that the earth’s population needed to be reduced to about ½ billion people. He was completely serious about this point of view, as if he saw himself working toward that objective.

End Times Fascism deepens our understanding of the abject depravity of those who right now have life and death power over what kind of a future humankind and many living things will experience. And they’ve chosen death or the risk of it for everything except for a very small elite which has an objective of “splintering governments and carving up the world into hyper-capitalist, democracy-free havens under the sole control of the supremely wealthy, protected by private mercenaries, serviced by AI robots and financed by cryptocurrencies.”

Klein and Taylor identify three “recent material developments” that have “accelerated” this end times, fascist effort: the climate crisis, Covid-19 and the real possibility of future pandemics, and “the rapid advancement and adoption of AI. . . All of these existential crises are layered on top of escalating tensions between nuclear-armed powers.”

Why is this happening? On a recent call a good friend of mine gave a concise, accurate answer: because their corporate-dominated and grossly unjust system is threatened by the refusal of tens of millions of us around the world to capitulate and give up. We who believe in freedom are not resting until we’ve turned this world around.

Klein and Taylor summarize the situation this way: “We must first understand this simple fact: we are up against an ideology that has given up not only on the premise and promise of liberal democracy but on the livability of our shared world—on its beauty, on its people, on our children, on other species. The forces we are up against have made peace with mass death. . . In this moment, when end times fascism is waging war on every front, new alliances are essential.”

One example of what we need is something happening in the state where I live, in New Jersey. For the last six months, since Trump’s election, an African American led, multi-racial and multi-issue coalition of almost 300 organizations has come together. Our first action was on January 18th, a Martin Luther King March for Justice and Resistance in Newark. Out of the success of that action, we initiated work which led to a hopeful, positive MLK People’s Convention attended by hundreds on April 26 which successfully adopted a comprehensive and substantive People’s Agenda putting forward solutions on a wide range of issues.

The successes of this newly-formed, statewide alliance has given us new energy to keep moving forward together, with plans developing for a series of actions into next year.

Alliance-building right now is the key, and it’s happening all over. Thousands of local, state and national groups have joined together in the HandsOff/50501/MayDayStrong network that over the last three months has mobilized millions of people in coordinated street actions in every single state in the US. These actions have strengthened the resolve of those participating and emboldened others—lawyers, judges, media figures, schools like Harvard, a wide and growing swath of US society—to resist and fight, nonviolently.

Next up for this national mass movement: June 14th, Flag Day, Trump’s birthday, the day of a Trumpfascist organized military parade of thousands of armed troops, tanks and more along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. In response, we need many millions of us to come out in actions all around the country, more than the three million who participated in Hands Off actions around the country on April 5.

Step by step, action by action, locally and nationally, we are building the progressive political force which can change this country and world. Si, se puede!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Pope Francis, Presente!

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Growing up, I had virtually no contact with people who identified themselves as Catholics. Perhaps some of my friends and acquaintances in high school and college were but if so, I didn’t know it.

The first open Catholics I came to know in late 1969 at the age of 20 were people like then-Sister Joann Malone, Fathers Joe Wenderoth and Neil McLaughlin, John Grady and, eventually, Father Phil Berrigan. These were all leaders of the militantly nonviolent Vietnam War resistance movement, the Catholic Left.

These and other Catholics I came to know back then had been influenced by the South and Central American liberation theology movement which emerged in the 1960’s following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, led by Fidel Castro.

Castro had been raised in a Catholic family. In an interview in 1985 with Chilean priest Frei Betto, he spoke about the influence of his deeply religious mother and grandmother: “I always listened to them with great interest and respect. Even though I didn’t share their concept of the world, I never argued with them about these things, because I could see the strength, courage and comfort they got from their religious feelings and beliefs. Of course, their feelings were neither rigid nor orthodox but something very much their own and very strongly felt. It was a part of the family tradition.” (1)

Pope Francis prior to his being named Pope was connected with and supportive of the liberation theology movement, although he was explicitly not a supporter of armed struggle for the overturning of repressive and unjust governments. He was, however, a strong advocate for social and economic justice as made very clear in his famous 2015 encyclical, “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home.”

I re-read Laudato Si’ yesterday. There is much in it of value to all people, not just Catholics and including agnostics and atheists. In the introduction Francis summarizes the main questions the book deals with: “I will point to the intimate relationship between the poor and the fragility of the planet, the conviction that everything in the world is connected, the critique of new paradigms and forms of power derived from technology, the call to see other ways of understanding the economy and progress, the value proper to each creature, the human meaning of ecology, the need for forthright and honest debate, the serious responsibility of international and local policy, the throwaway culture and the proposal of a new lifestyle.”

Over the book’s 157 pages Francis does, indeed, deal with all of this and more.

Francis makes very clear over and over again that a central reason why the world’s economies and ecosystems are in such a critical state is the domination of government by “transnational corporations” and “powerful financial interests.” This is a good thing. Being truthful about the main source of our problems is always what those who want a world based on love, justice, peace and connection to nature should be about.

However, it is a problem that he never explicitly says that in order to create just societies and avoid economic, social and ecological collapse, the power and wealth of this billionaire class must be ended and drastically redistributed. Indeed, in such new societies billionaires would not exist. In my opinion, those who are now billionaires or multi/multi millionaires might come to appreciate how wrong they were to put the pursuit of obscene wealth and power before anything else. Some of them might actually come to realize that love and service to others is, indeed, a much better way to live.

Related to this problem with Laudato Si’ is the fact that nowhere in the book that I could find does Francis use the phrase, “fossil fuel industry,” much less call for it to be immediately and drastically downsized, moved aside so that wind, solar and other clean, renewable energy sources can take their place as rapidly as possible.

The fossil fuel industry and those banks and insurance companies who are financing their ecosystem-destroying pursuit of private profit must be named, called out, targeted for consistent, militant, nonviolent demonstrations and risk-taking direct action. They are truly public enemy number one and need to be treated as such.

As the Trump Must Go movement continues to grow and build its strength, with the next big showing of our power coming up on May 1, we can draw inspiration from the life and teachings of Pope Francis. He was a man of the people, humble, willing to take on conservative Catholic theology and speak truth to power. Let us hope that the new person elected to replace him continues and builds upon his forward-looking teachings.

1—p. 47, Fidel Castro and Frei Betto, “Fidel and Religion: Conversations with Frei Betto on Marxism and Liberation Theology.”

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Tom Paine, Revolutionist

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The Future Hope column below was published on July 5, 2020. It is essentially a review of the book, “Citizen Tom Paine,” by Howard Fast. I am posting it again five years later on the day after the over 800 “No Kings!” actions around the country, the latest in a wave of 50-state protests against the Trumpfascists that began on February 5th.

Yesterday was the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the US American Revolution at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. The success of that revolution against King George III and British colonialism inspired successful progressive uprisings into the 1820’s in France, Haiti, South America and elsewhere. Indeed, when the Vietnamese national liberation movement declared their independence from France on September 2, 1945, they directly quoted the US Declaration of Independence: “All people are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

The American Revolution against tyranny and oppression lives!


“There is nothing more common than to confound the terms of  the American Revolution with those of the late American war. The American war is over, but this is far from being the case with the American revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the great drama is closed.”   1787, Benjamin Rush
-the beginning of the book, Citizen Tom Paine, by Howard Fast

On this 4th of July weekend the name of Tom Paine, as usual, is rarely heard in official government celebrations. Yet without Tom Paine, it is likely that the war of independence against British colonialism that forged what became the United States of America never would have succeeded. That is how important this poor, struggling, working-class Englishman was to the revolutionary cause. This was a person who made a difference.

It is also rare, from my experience, that the name Tom Paine is voiced among those in 21st century USA who see themselves as revolutionaries or on the political Left. I understand why this is the case, but I think there are very good reasons why we should be raising up his name as we continue to build our growing 21st century, revolutionary movement demanding that all Black Lives Matter, for a Green New Deal, for Medicare for All, for equity and equality for women, all people of color and lgbtq people, for “liberty and justice for all.”

Howard Fast’s book is not a biography of Paine; it’s a work of historical fiction. But it presents the truth about the man, from his very real personal weaknesses and worts to his brilliance as a writer, speaker and organizer, his commitment to the causes of overthrowing tyranny, ending slavery, “a way for children to smile, some freedom, some liberty, and hope for the future, men with rights, decent courts, decent laws, men not afraid of poverty and women not afraid of childbirth.” (p. 77)

Paine saw himself as a revolutionist. This was his life’s work. In a fictional exchange with fellow revolutionist and doctor Benjamin Rush, in a discussion about revolution, Rush articulates what was historically new about what was happening in the American colonies in the 1770’s: “The strength of many is revolution, but curiously enough mankind has gone through several thousand years of slavery without realizing that fact. But here we have a nation of armed men who know how to use their arms; we have a Protestant tradition of discussion as opposed to autocracy; we have some notion of the dignity of man [mainly white men]. . . but now we must learn technique, we must learn it well. . .Six months ago you were rolled in the dirt [assaulted] because people knew what you were writing; two weeks ago a man in New York was almost tarred and feathered because he planned to publish an answer to [Paine’s] Common Sense. That’s not morality; that’s strength, the same kind of strength the tyrants used, only a thousand times more powerful. Now we must learn how to use that strength, how to control it. We need leaders, a program, a purpose, but above all we need revolutionists.” (pps. 116-117)

Paine was a particular kind of writer, one who was immersed in the cause of independence, on the front lines of deadly battles, spending time in the bitter winter encampments of the nascent continental army, organizing, encouraging men to stick with it, inspiring them and pointing out how important what they were doing was. “This was all Paine had ever thought of or dreamed of, the common men of the world marching together, shoulder to shoulder, guns in their hands, love in their hearts.” (p. 124)

Fast paints a picture of Paine writing the first issue of The Crisis, a newspaper published during the war to present facts and strengthen morale: “The men gathered around him. They read as he wrote: ‘These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. . . If there be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. . . Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and repulse it.” (p. 145)

That’s a good last line, relevant for us right now in the summer of 2020. Let the city and the country come forth to meet and repulse our common danger, this decade’s King George III, and, after his defeat this November, the unjust, destructive system which spawned him. It’s just common sense.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.