Tag Archives: politics

The Limits of Tyrants

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“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
-Frederick Douglass, August 3, 1857, in Canandaigua, NY

65 years ago today, on February 1, 1960, the first student sit-in at lunch counters throughout the segregated South began in downtown Greensboro at a Woolworth’s store. Young people literally put their bodies on the line, and were beaten and jailed for doing so, to demand an end to racist laws and daily practices prohibiting Black people from using public and private facilities solely because of the color of their skin.

This action sparked similar actions throughout the South, the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the emergence of a national mass movement against segregation and racism. Four years later, in 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed in Congress, followed the next year by the Voting Rights Act.

I’m pretty certain that there were very few people before that sit-in who thought that within five years the South’s racist, essentially fascist, way of life going back almost a century could be successfully overcome, legally, although, of course, it took many years and constant struggle for those laws to finally bring about a civil rights revolution. Despite some weakening of those laws over the last decade or so, they are still, legally and culturally, largely in effect.

After two weeks of the Trump Presidency it is clear that he and the MAGA movement have every intention of using their power to roll back not just decades of the gains of the civil rights movement but of all movements defending and advancing human rights, labor rights, women’s rights, lgbtq+ rights, democracy and social, economic and environmental justice. This is a tyrannical regime.

Resistance to it has already taken place, beginning with the hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrated in over 300 localities on January 18th. It has continued through the work in communities all over the country helping immigrants at risk of deportation learning their rights and getting organized to defend them. It happened this week when 23 states successfully challenged Trump’s effort to prevent the disbursement of literally trillions of dollars allocated by Congress and signed into law by Biden. The American Federation of Government Employees has called for a massive demonstration in DC on February 11th against the Trumpists’ efforts to get rid of professional civil service workers. And there are many other ways that, on issue after issue, our US resistance movement has refused to bend to the would-be dictator.

What about demonstrations and nonviolent direct action? There have been some voices raised to the effect that, under a Trumpist regime, these are not as important, or are risky, compared to under a Democratic regime.

There’s some validity to the critique. Successful organizing involves much more than demonstrative, visible action: one-on-one conversations with community members or co-workers; calls, emails, texts or meetings with those with some power to correct wrongs or advance positive change; legal action; meetings to come to agreement internally within a group or with coalition partners about strategy and tactics; writing and videoing and taking pictures and circulating them as widely as possible; testifying before government bodies to oppose or support a particular policy or decisions; conscious development of healthy internal organizational cultures which support all those involved; and more.

But absent visible and public actions, as large and/or as creatively risk-taking as possible, victories will be much harder to come by. Here’s how I wrote about this in my 21st Century Revolution book:

“No revolution of any kind has happened without the manifestation of people’s anger at oppression or abuse via public marches, demonstrations, strikes (including hunger strikes) and civil disobedience to express their strong feelings and to spread the word to others about their resistance. Oppressed people need to see that there are others who feel the same way and are willing to take action to change things. Elected officials, even those who are supportive, need to appreciate the strength of people’s feelings via seeing it in action. And clearly, the target(s) of the public demonstrations need to see both sizeable numbers of people involved and the urgency and intensity of their feelings.”

In Frederick Douglass’ Canandaigua speech in 1857 he also said something that is not as widely quoted as the “limits of tyrants” quote at the beginning of this article but is just as important:

“People may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must certainly pay for all they get. If we ever get free from the oppression and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and, if needs be, by our lives and the lives of others.”

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.

Panama, Greenland, Palestine, Ukraine: What About National Self-Determination?

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Ever since Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine I’ve been thinking about the issue of the right of nations to self-determination. I’ve done so because some on the Left, since that war began, have been essentially defending the Putin government’s invasion. They have done so on the grounds that Russia had legitimate fears of the NATO military alliance which, after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, has been steadily growing as East European governments formerly within the USSR orbit have joined it.

I agree that this is a real issue. It is understandable that Russia would fear a Ukraine which joined NATO given that it is right next to Russia. It’s why President John Kennedy took action in 1961 when Soviet missiles were detected by US intelligence agencies in Cuba, 90 miles from the state of Florida.

But what Russia’s military has done to Ukraine since its invasion almost three years ago, with at least 50,000 soldiers killed and upwards of 350,000 wounded, massive damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure and over 12,000 civilians killed, cannot be justified as in any way a proportionate response to NATO’s maneuverings. It has also been devastating for Russian soldiers forced to fight, with roughly twice the number of casualties as Ukraine.

Ukraine has the right to national self-determination. So do Palestinians. So do Panama and Greenland.

There are some who oppose US military support of Ukraine because they are pacifists who oppose all war. This is understandable, though as a person committed to nonviolence but not a pacifist, it is hard to see how pacifist tactics in the face of Russia’s overt attempt three years ago to take over Ukraine could have prevented that takeover.

The others on the Left who have been explicitly or implicitly supportive of Russia’s invasion have generally done so because, for them, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Their enemy, and mine too, is a United States government which has a military budget approaching a trillion dollars a year, with 700 military bases in 100 countries around the world. For comparison, Russia has 35 military bases outside of Russia, most of them in former USSR countries, and China has five.

Since the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, that far-flung military has been a key part of US efforts to prevent popular movements from gaining power when those movements are attempting to create governments primarily about the raising up of the living standards of their people, no longer under the thumb of US and European mega-corporations. These movements have in the past and continue today to fight for the right of oppressed nations to throw off that oppression and to determine for themselves what form of government they want.

The Palestine/Israel reality is more complex, but the bottom line is that Israel’s continued and escalating occupation of the West Bank and its dominance over “open air prison” and now devastated Gaza is clearly a blatant and now-genocidal violation of the Palestinian right to self-determination. This is recognized by the vast majority of the world’s nations.

And Panama and Greenland? Would-be dictator Trump’s potentially serious efforts to dominate them on behalf of the economic interests of him and his billionaire oligarch buddies would be laughable if he hadn’t already shown his disregard for anything other than what benefits him and his class.

US imperialism beyond the land which is now the continental United States, the 48 states, began about 125 years ago with the “Spanish-American war.” The US forcibly took control of Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines away from imperial Spain. In response a broadly-based Anti-Imperialist League was formed which included people like Mark Twain and Samuel Gompers. Though it didn’t prevent the beginnings of US imperialism, it is important that it existed if only to remind those of us living today that this is also part of US history.

A progressive, mass-based, growing Left, our movement of movements, must stand with people around the world fighting for justice and their right to decide what form of democratic government they want. Only a worldwide movement for justice, democracy and a healthy natural environment can defeat the corporatists and neo-fascists who will literally devastate human societies and ecosystems worldwide if not removed from power.

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.

Dr. ML King: Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Community?

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In the organizing meetings over the last two months leading up to and at yesterday’s positive March of Resistance in Newark, NJ, endorsed by 308 organizations, African American leaders of this multi-racial, multi-issue effort have spoken often about the importance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s last book: Where Do We Go From Here, Chaos or Community?

The demonstration in Newark yesterday was one of over 300 local actions around the country interconnected by the Women’s March/People’s March. Many tens of thousands of people altogether, possibly 100,000 or more, made it very clear that there is a grassroots based, multi-issue, popular movement of resistance coming out of the blocks ready to fight in an organized way against the Trump/MAGA efforts to take this country back decades. We Won’t Go Back!

60 years after Dr. King wrote this book, we are truly faced with the same question: chaos or community?

This is a piece of work that has a great deal to say to those of us who want a world where justice, peaceful settling of conflicts, and protection of and connection with the natural environment are foundational principles.

I have gone through this book, for the third time over the last couple of years, and pulled out what I consider to be some, by no means all, of Dr. King’s words that seem most appropriate to our reality today. In the order that they come up in the book, here they are:

“The hard cold facts today indicate that the hope of the people of color in the world may well rest on the American Negro and his ability to reform the structure of racist imperialism from within and thereby turn the technology and wealth of the West to the task of liberating the world from want.”  page 59

“We will be greatly misled if we feel that the problem will work itself out. Structures of evil do not crumble by passive waiting. If history teaches anything, it is that evil is recalcitrant and determined, and never voluntarily relinquishes its hold short of an almost fanatical resistance. Evil must be attacked by a counteracting persistence, by the day-to-day assault of the battering rams of justice.”  page 136

“The only answer to the delay, double-dealing, tokenism and racism that we still confront is through mass nonviolent action and the ballot. Our course of action must lie neither in passively relying on persuasion nor in actively succumbing to violent rebellion, but in a higher synthesis that reconciles the truths of these two opposites.”  page 137

“These must be supplemented by a continuing job of organization. To produce change, people must be organized to work together in units of power. . . [We must] engage in the task of organizing people into permanent groups to protect their own interests and produce change in their behalf.”  page 139

“The future of the deep structural changes we seek will not be found in the decaying political machines. It lies in new alliances of Negroes, Puerto Ricans, labor, liberals, certain church and middle-class elements. . . A true alliance is based upon some self-interest of each component group and a common interest into which they merge. Each of them must have a goal from which it benefits and none must have an outlook in basic conflict with the others.”  page 159

“We need organizations that are permeated with mutual trust, incorruptibility and militancy. Without this spirit we may have the numbers but they will add up to zero. We need organizations that are responsible, efficient and alert.”   page 169

“We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing’-oriented society to a ‘person’-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered. . . Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal opposition to poverty, racism and militarism.”  pages 196, 197, 200 and 201

On his 96th birthday, long live the spirit and wisdom of this truly great human being and revolutionary, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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.

270+ “No to Trump” Actions on January 18

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With 10 days left to mobilize, it is clear that the People’s March, initiated by the Women’s March, is going to be a big deal throughout the country. At the People’s March website can be found 270 localities, as of right now, that are signed up to demonstrate on that day.

The biggest march will be in Washington, DC, and it is important that this one be big because that is where Trump will be inaugurated two days later. But the broad geographic sweep of this mobilization, combined with the many tens of thousands already signed up who will become hundreds of thousands, or more, on the 18th is also very important.

A strong national progressive resistance movement needs strong local organized networks, interconnected with one another and engaging periodically, as on January 18th, in coordinated actions which show both ourselves, progressives, and the country as a whole that WE HAVE NOT BEEN DEFEATED AND WE WILL RESIST.

What are the focuses of these actions? Here’s what can be found on the People’s March website:

“We all march for different reasons, but we march for the same cause, to defend our rights and our future.

“If you believe that decisions about your body should remain yours; that books belong in libraries, not on bonfires; that healthcare is a right, not a privilege for the wealthy; if you believe in the power of free speech and protest to sustain democracy; or if you want an economy that works for the people who power it—then this march is for you.”

Who are some of the groups putting this mobilization together? Here’s a partial list: Coalition of Labor Union Women, Democratic Socialists of America, Grassroots Global Justice, Movement for Black Lives, National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood Federation, Popular Democracy, Radical Elders, Right to the City, Rising Majority, Sierra Club and Stand Up for Racial Justice.

This mobilization has reminded me of the March to End Fossil Fuels on September 17th,  2023. The major action on that day was in New York City, where upwards of 70,000 people participated. This was after the main organizers of the march, concerned about overestimating and just a few days before it happened, were saying they expected at least 20-25,000. But the months of bringing hundreds of groups together and the day-to-day organizing on the part of thousands of organizers ended up with many more than that in NYC, and there were also, like January 18th, hundreds of localities where coordinated actions took place. Many hundreds of thousands took part altogether.

My personal involvement in this historic mobilization has been via work on a major action in Newark, NJ on the 18th: the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. March of Resistance. From a first meeting to discuss the idea of such a march in late November attended by reps of 23 New Jersey groups, there are now 260 organizations which have endorsed. Because of the leadership for this action coming out of the Black community, the fact of Trump’s inauguration happening on the same day as the federal holiday for Dr. King has been highlighted.

There is no better person to contrast what Trump and MAGA are all about and what this country and world really need than Dr. King.

As we’ve done our organizing we have remembered and raised up King’s focus in the last year of his life on what he called “the sickness of racism, poverty and militarism” in the United States. He understood clearly how deep-seated these destructive and interrelated ideologies and practices are within the USA, and they still are today.

In the spirit of Dr. King and the many other heroes and heroines of the struggle for justice in this country, let’s make January 18th the truly historic and empowering day that it clearly can be. 10 days left to mobilize.

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 Second Big Defeat

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Almost exactly a month ago President-Elect Trump suffered his first major political defeat when Ultra-MAGA Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew his name after Trump nominated him to be US Attorney-General. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell’s opposition to that nomination was a primary reason Gaetz had to do this. In a column I wrote then, I said:

“Would-be dictators actually become dictators in part because they are able to project strength and virility, making it much easier to impose their will on anybody they determine is standing in their way. But as Republican Senator Mitch McConnell surprisingly revealed, Trump’s victory clearly has its limits. When it is Republican Senators, not Democrats, not progressives, not leftists, who are the ones standing up to him, that has positive political impacts.”

Just two days ago we saw the same thing, with two differences: it was 38 Republican House members who rejected Trump’s ultimatum for them to vote for a piece of legislation he considered important; and Trump looked weak as obscenely rich billionaire Elon Musk first made that demand, after which Trump followed.

Could it be that Trump’s age and infirmities are catching up with him? Has he been thrown off his game? Or is it, maybe, that Trump’s primary reason for running for office was not necessarily to be a dictatorial President (though he’d clearly like it to be) but because only by winning would he be certain that he avoid trials and prison time for his criminal activities?

Is it possible that as problematic as it is that this vile human being is the most powerful person in the USA, his second four year term in the White House is going to be primarily another time of political chaos?

One reason this is likely is the fact that Trump will take office as the President with the lowest poll numbers of any newly-elected President going back decades. Five national polls since December 5 measuring how people feel about Trump in this transitional period before taking office have him at an average 51% rating. The numbers for Biden four years ago were in the high 50s. This guy in no way has a popular mandate.

Other reasons include: the very visible divisions within the Republican Party in the House; the nearly even number of Democratic House members as Republicans; and Senate Republicans seven votes short of the 60 they need for anything that isn’t budget related or confirmations of executive and judicial appointments.

Will all of this scale back the amount of damage Trump and the MAGA’s can do?

Damage there will be, without question. On many fronts—climate, immigrant rights, health care, social security, education, housing, labor rights, voting and civil rights, abortion and womens’ rights, transgender rights, and more—the progressive and liberal forces who almost got Kamala Harris elected will have our hands very full. That reality could be mitigated somewhat with big victories for Democrats (and progressive independents?) in the House and Senate in November of 2026, but until at least then we need to do all we can to defend the many gains we have made in the USA since the CIO uprising of workers in the 1930s.

Lots of tactics are needed to mount those defenses, but there’s one that, right now, needs to take priority: as massive as possible a showing in the streets of opposition to the Trump/MAGA agenda. This is why the Women’s March January 18th in Washington, DC, as well as the many other local demonstrations happening on that date, are so important. Personally, I’m very involved in organizing a Black-led “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. March of Resistance” in Newark, NJ. Many thousands are expected, with almost 200 organizational endorsers as of this writing.

It is critical that the mass media and social media narrative about Trump’s inauguration on January 20th not be one which makes it seem like our progressive movements of movements has been cowed, silenced, seriously set back. We haven’t been, I know it from my observations and interactions since November 5, and we need to make that visible from the git-go of this next four-year period of oppression and righteous resistance.

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.

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Bernie’s Call to Reflect/Speak Out/Build

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“I have long believed that we need an alternative to the Democrat and Republican parties, and since 1974 I have acted on that belief via involvement in various organizations with that objective. All during that time I have believed, on a tactical level, that to get to the kind of alternative we need, one that had the mass support necessary to be able to actually contest for power, it was necessary that it include both people who saw themselves as independent of the Dems/Reps as well as a significant number of progressive Democrats and maybe some Republicans. I’ve also learned from experience about the very practical problem of a winner-take-all system when it comes to explicit third party building. The weakness of the US Green Party is exhibit number one for why this is such a huge problem.”
-21st Century Revolution: Through Higher Love, Racial Justice and Democratic Cooperation, p. 104

It was 50 years ago that I first joined an organization trying to build a progressive alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties. The group’s name for a while was the very unwieldly “National Interim Committee for a Mass Party of the People,” eventually and mercifully changed to “Mass Party Organizing Committee.” The organization grew out of a long paper, “Toward a Party of the People,” written by civil rights/labor/progressive attorney Arthur Kinoy.

I was reminded of my long years in the wilderness trying, unsuccessfully, with many others to build such a political force when Bernie Sanders last week put out an intriguing “Tough Times” email. In it Independent Sanders made it clear that though he supported Kamala Harris and though he works with Democrats in the Senate to try to advance positive legislation, he continues to believe that an alternative to both parties is necessary, that what happened in 2024 only reinforced that belief and his commitment to play a leadership role toward that alternative.

As he put it, we need to “learn the lessons of the [Democratic Party] defeat and create a party that stands with the working class and is prepared to take on the enormously powerful special interests that dominate our economy, our media and our political life.”

I was struck by Bernie’s call for the Left to ask a series of “political questions that, together, we need to address.” He listed nine of them in his Tough Times piece, including: how we build a multi-racial, multi-generational working class movement; building a 50 state movement; Citizens United and billionaires buying elections; more working class candidates for office; supporting Independent candidates; better support to union organizing; strengthen our use of social media; and building sustainable, issue-based organizing structures.

Intriguingly, he asked, “How do we put together listening sessions around the country that intentionally seek input from people who did not vote for Democrats in the last election?” Listening is almost always a very good thing to be doing, especially if it’s clear that there’s a need for some major personal or political change.

Where would the independent progressive movement be without Bernie Sanders? His 2016 Presidential campaign was absolutely huge—15 million votes for a forthright socialist who targeted what he called the “ruling class,” the 1%, the power elite, the billionaire class. Those of us who voted for him and the country as a whole were witnesses to the breadth of support for this kind of politics.

Reading what Sanders wrote it would be very easy to think that he was calling for the creation right now of a new political party other than the Dems and the Reps, but he has clarified since in an interview in The Nation with John Nichols that he is not doing so. He believes that strong, class-conscious progressives can run either in Democratic primaries or as Independents.

This is an absolutely key point for those individuals and organizations who right now, after Kamala Harris’ unfortunate defeat, believe that what the Left should do is to abandon the Democrats and create right now a(nother) third party.

The Green Party experience over 28 years of running candidates for office is instructive here. This year, after all those years of existence, their candidate for President got ½ of a percent of the national popular vote. This is not an aberration; it’s a feature of every GP Presidential campaign since 2000 when the Ralph Nader/Winona Laduke slate received 2.7% of the popular vote.

What we need to be consciously constructing right now is a “third force,” a progressive alliance that is clearly different than both the Democrats and the Republicans as far as what it stands for both domestically and as far as foreign policy: “for racial and gender justice and equality; for the right to organize and unionize on the job; against militarism and for justice-based peace; for detoxification and protection of our natural environment and a rapid shift from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels and nukes to clean, renewable energy sources; for immigrant rights, reproductive rights and an end to mass incarceration; for a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, tuition-free public higher education and student debt cancellation; and more.” (21st Century Revolution, p. 96)

Who is going to give leadership to the building of such an alliance? One person, one absolutely key person, is Bernie Sanders, but it cannot be him alone. As he said in his Tough Times piece, “these are some of the political questions that, together, we need to address. And it is absolutely critical that you [all of us] make your voice heard during this process.”

As we fight the many necessary battles against Trump and MAGA’s regressive, destructive plans, we also need to consciously build upon the many connections that already exist toward a much better organized, independent and progressive, political third force. NOW IS THE TIME.

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 Big Defeat

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“I took down your golden boy in a week.”   
     -Mitch McConnell, on Matt Gaetz failed nomination

After learning yesterday about Matt Gaetz withdrawing from consideration to be US Attorney General, I spoke with a close friend and sister activist about the replacement nominee, Pam Bondi. She said, accurately, that the problem with Bondi is that she doesn’t seem to have Gaetz’s personal baggage but could be more dangerous because she has the legal experience and skills that he doesn’t.

I responded that, yes, that is true, but it’s also true that this big political defeat for Trump, happening because of a rebellion by less hardline Republican Senators, is a very positive development anyway. Why?

Would-be dictators actually become dictators in part because they are able to project strength and virility, making it much easier to impose their will on anybody they determine is standing in their way. But as Republican Senator Mitch McConnell surprisingly revealed, Trump’s victory clearly has its limits. When it is Republican Senators, not Democrats, not progressives, not leftists, who are the ones standing up to him, that has positive political impacts.

Many progressives and liberals and more centrist Republicans have been rocked by Trump’s victory. All of us in one way or the other have been emotionally thrown by it. But the thing is this: successful resistance, even just the fact of resistance, encourages others to do so. When victories are won because of that resistance a stronger and wider movement will be one of the results.

I have to say that I’ve wondered myself if Trump and the MAGA’s were going to be able to lie and intimidate enough to significantly alter US political dynamics and undercut the important democratic aspects of this problematic, unjust system. Were a significant percentage of the millions of progressives in the USA going to decide to keep their heads down, not show up for public demonstrations, reduce their activism out of fear, I’ve wondered. And I still have that concern. But this big defeat of Trump’s “golden boy in a week;” McConnell revealing that Trump is not going to be able to get all the Senate, and House, Republicans to just go along to get along, look the other way on anything Trump/MAGA wants, should help to lessen that problem.

As I wrote in my column the day after the election, “I remember a very similar [anxious and depressed] feeling after the November, 1972 runaway Presidential victory of Trump-similar Richard Nixon over George McGovern. 21 months later Nixon was gone from DC, resigning in disgrace before he was impeached. What was Nixon’s vote total compared to Trump’s? Nixon had a 23% margin of victory in the popular vote and won every state except Massachusetts and DC. As far as Trump, when all the votes are counted It looks like he’ll either be ahead by a couple percent or pretty much tied [as of now it’s about a 1 ½ point lead]. And Harris won a lot more states than Massachusetts and DC.”

Resistance breeds resistance. It is that resistance movement that is our hope for the future; let’s step it up across the board on issue after issue.

 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.

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Dealing With Government Repression

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“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 will strengthen and build our movement.”

          -from my book, Burglar for Peace: Lessons Learned in the Catholic Left’s Resistance to the Vietnam War.

(Much of what follows is an edited version of a section in the concluding chapter of the Burglar for Peace book.)

My first years of progressive activism and organizing took place during the presidency of Richard Nixon, without doubt one of, if not the, most repressive Presidential administrations we have experienced in the US in the modern era. It was under Nixon that the Republican Party with its “southern strategy” began its move toward becoming the kind of ultra-rightist entity that allowed pathological liar, racist and sexual predator Donald Trump to be elected President in November of 2016, and again two weeks ago.

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 and Young Lords, including armed attacks by police leading to 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. This eventually led to the exposure of this apparatus and Nixon’s forced resignation from office in 1974.

I personally experienced this repressive apparatus primarily via my inclusion as a defendant in the Harrisburg 8 case. We were charged with a supposed anti-Vietnam War conspiracy to kidnap Henry Kissinger and blow up heating tunnels under Washington, DC. When the case finally came to trial, the jury in conservative Harrisburg, Pa. was hung 10-2 for acquittal, after which the Nixon government dropped the case.

I learned during those Nixon years about how to deal with government repression. Unfortunately, given the reality of a second Trump administration about to take power, these are lessons very relevant for today.

There are a number of things which are essential to 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 job losses or greater economic hardship. We need to accept that under a Trump/MAGA regime this is all likely.

Several things which can lessen all of those negatives are these:

-good legal representation in court. I was glad to see the ACLU’s strong public statement about planning to do their job, and there are many other movement groups, like the National Lawyers Guild, and lawyers that I expect will do the same.

-a loving community of support. This can be within an organization, within the local area where we live, via social media or other forms of communication, and/or just within a family. We all need to do our best to help foster and strengthen these necessary support networks.

-broad community support when repression happens. If people and groups that are attacked, in whatever way, are not seen as, or do not come to be known as, honest and genuine human beings trying to be a positive force, it is going to be hard to rally and manifest the breadth of support probably necessary. Indeed, if we are such people already, attacks on us can immediately or over time serve to undercut support for the repressors, strengthen our movement of movements.

Another critical aspect is the need for us, white progressives in particular, to internalize the reality that there is a disparity between how repressive government deals with people of color, Black, Latino/a, First Nation and Asian, compared with people of European descent, white people. The historical realities of broken treaties, slavery, Jim Crow segregation, assumed white dominance and institutionalized racism continue to have their negative, discriminatory impacts. In 2024 it was manifested primarily by Trump’s repeated attacks on and threats to people of color immigrants.

Also, clearly, transgender people are right up there at the top of MAGA’s enemies list.

Those of us of European descent as well as all progressives must be conscious of these realities and act accordingly, ready to speak up and challenge unequal, discriminatory or explicitly racist, sexist and transphobic words and actions whenever they happen.

Another lesson as far as dealing with government repression is to not let it paralyze or divide organizations or movements.

This is one of the objectives of unjust governments trying to repress those who challenge its policies and practices. It is a known fact that government infiltrators are trained to look for differences within a group or movement and make efforts to deepen and harden them. That is why we need to be about the continued development of a movement culture which is respectful and healthy. Within such a cultural environment, it is much harder for people trying to create divisions to succeed.

It’s similar in regards to agent provocateurs, people who try to get others to engage in violent speech or action toward police or others representing government.

Anger against injustice and oppression is not just legitimate; it is a necessary component of successfully building a movement for real change. But anger needs to be used in a disciplined way. Those who are quick to call cops “pigs” to their face, engage in physical violence, or in other ways display anger negatively, ways which will be used to discredit and isolate us, are either government/corporate agents or are people who need an intervention. They need to be taken aside and spoken to in a direct, to-the-point and loving way about the counter-productiveness of what they are doing.

It’s a drag that we’re on the defensive on a national level and will be for at least a couple years to come, but that’s where we are. There are so many issues that we won’t be able to move forward on nationally, the deepening climate emergency being a huge one imho. But in this time of testing we owe it to the best within us and to those coming after us to stand as strong and gentle and loving as we can as we go about our essential work and activism. Generations past have pointed the way for us, and generations to come are counting on us.

 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.

Time to Hit the Streets

Future Hope, , ,

The day before the big election I said to my wife that, if Trump ended up winning, it was important that a very broad, massive coalition to oppose him had been created by Kamala Harris and her supporters. As terrible as it is that, as I write, the MAGA’s will control the Senate and the White House, hopefully not the House, a potentially strong counterforce exists to continue the fight to move forward, not backwards.

Then, last night, lying in bed thinking about this so-serious situation we are now faced with in not just the USA but the world because of the MAGA victory, I remembered a very similar feeling after the November, 1972 runaway Presidential victory of Trump-similar Richard Nixon over George McGovern. 21 months later Nixon was gone from DC, resigning in disgrace before he was impeached.

What was Nixon’s vote total compared to Trump’s?

Nixon had a 23% margin of victory in the popular vote and won every state except Massachusetts and DC. As far as Trump, when all the votes are counted It looks like he’ll either be ahead by a couple percent or pretty much tied. And Harris will have won a lot more states than Massachusetts and DC.

Trump’s victory is really bad for the Palestinians; 2 ½ months from now Netanyahu and his allies will have an active enabler in the White House of their planned takeover of all of Palestine, from the river to the sea. It is terrible for our disrupted climate; a climate denier will be President one of whose main promises during his campaign was that if he won, the US would “drill, baby, drill.” Undocumented immigrants, including the dreamers, people brought to the US as children by family members looking for a better life, are facing a planned mass deportation of millions. Women’s right to abortion will continue to be in jeopardy as the movement against that right will be strengthened by Trump’s victory. The labor movement can expect to see anti-union replacements at the National Labor Relations Board. The list of MAGA’s neo-fascist plans, enumerated in the Project 2025 document, is a very long one.

It’s pretty overwhelming to appreciate what we are now facing. But it would be wrong to give up hope, for many reasons, among them:

-History sometimes develops in unexpected ways. Who would ever have thought after Nixon’s overwhelming landslide victory in 1972 that he would be disgraced and gone from the White House 21 months later?

-There are literally millions of us who have been active as part of the effort to defeat Trump. To the extent to which that movement refuses to give in and demonstrates visibly, in the streets and in other ways, that if will fight the MAGA’s, this can have an impact.

-Seven of the 10 ballot initiatives upholding the abortion rights of women, the right to control their reproductive health care, were successful, including several in states Trump won.

-Trump doesn’t control the courts. And even though the Supreme Court is what it is, there is no question that state courts, US District Courts and Courts of Appeal will play a major role slowing, at least, as well as more than that in some cases, the attempted MAGA coup.

Ultimately, what is most important right now is for progressives to resolve individually, on a personal level, that we refuse to give up. The Harris supporters who are demoralized by the election results need to see us continuing to take visible action. That is why “taking it to the streets,” in creative and massive and determined ways, is what now has to rise to the top of our tactical agenda.

 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. More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Running Through the Tape

Future Hope, , , ,

Last week, from Saturday October 26th through Saturday November 2, I took part in the Harris/Walz ground game in the Allentown, Pa. area. Each of those eight days I left the place where I was staying first thing in the morning to go knock on doors, about 7-800 of them altogether over that time. I talked to those who opened the door or who I passed in the street, about 300-350 people I’d estimate, and leave campaign literature when no one answered. It was definitely hard work, but it was good work, and I am thankful that at the age of 75 my knees and the rest of my body held up so that I was able to make it through.

The doors that I was knocking on were a mix. Many of those I spoke to were Harris supporters, but there was a substantial minority that were either undecided or Trump supporters, which I was glad was the case. I wanted to do outreach “beyond the choir,” and I was fortunate to be connected in August to a local Democratic Party campaign for the Pennsylvania State House in a very definite “purple” area. This was reflected by the fact that there seemed to be as many yard signs for Trump as there were for Harris as I went around. As a result I ended up talking to scores of Trump supporters.

Did I change any of their minds? Not as far as who they’ll be voting for, almost certainly, but I do feel confident that I raised some doubts in the minds of some of them, particularly when I reminded them that both General Mark Milley and General John Kelly said publicly that after working closely with Trump when he was President that they believe he is a “fascist,” their word. Milley said he is “fascist to the core.”

I was encouraged that, even if just for a few minutes, I was able to have a civil conversation with these Trump supporters where we both listened to each other. It strengthened some hope that I already had that, going forward after tomorrow’s election, especially if Harris wins, it is possible to make inroads with some of them.

Hopefully we progressives, especially we white progressives, will get a chance to work at that in a more conscious and focused way after tomorrow, after a Harris/Walz/Democratic Party set of victories.

But there’s still one day to go!

Although I’m home, glad to be here regaining my strength, my anxiety about the election had me on the phone for four hours yesterday making calls into the area where I did my door to door work. And I will spend at least that many hours today doing the same.

VP candidate Walz, former coach, has used the analogy of “running through the tape,” meaning that if you are in a foot race you don’t let up until you’ve actually crossed the finish line. In the past, before the electronics revolution, there often was an actual tape, a ribbon, stretched across the finish line for the winner of the race to break through.

A breakthrough: that’s what a Harris/Walz victory can be, and I believe it is a definite possibility if, even today, we all make those calls, knock on doors, text people we know to be sure they’re voting and win the biggest set of victories we can tomorrow. History is calling upon us to defeat the fascist threat!

 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. More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.