Why did they not say this out loud and act accordingly? Because to call this out for what it was would draw the wrath of Trump and his organized and mobilized fascist social base and talk of civil war--with no small number arming and preparing (witness 22,000 in Richmond, Virginia, at a gun rally during the impeachment proceedings); and because to bring out and act on the real stakes could arouse and mobilize masses of people, who then might look more deeply at what has given rise to this fascist regime and the reality that the Democrats really don't have answers to the problems that this system generates, which is why Obama remains the president who has deported the most immigrants.
The Democrats do have serious differences and conflicts with the Trump/Pence regime and in many ways are themselves under direct threat by it. The attempt to impeach him was real and marked a heightening of those conflicts. Trump has directly and in very vicious terms threatened some of them, especially the lead prosecutor, Representative Adam Schiff. But those top Democrats, who knew and know the real danger that Trump and this whole fascist regime represent and not only do not shout it from the rooftops but don't even dare to utter out loud what they say behind closed doors, are just as guilty as the Republi-fascists of suppressing the truth and blinding people to the real stakes of what is happening.
And, they did make a serious case around the particular incident of Trump trying to extort Ukraine to go after Biden and obstructing justice, but they did not connect the dots to the whole agenda and the stakes, and openly call out this regime for its fascist character, lest they shake people's faith in that system and its "proper procedures"... and spur people to take to the streets in genuine resistance. For that could get out of hand.
Yet, these conflicts at the top of the ruling class and their representatives in government, with reverberations all the way down through different sections of the people, remain intense and there is every likelihood they will grow even more so, especially as the now even more emboldened regime runs totally rampant. People broadly need to recognize that these conflicts provide openings for the mass struggle from below to powerfully impact and take things much further in the needed direction of defeating this fascism, and not just vainly trying to stay its hand. But that can't happen if people remain on their couches, literally twiddling their thumbs on their phones! Or, just putting all their hopes and energies into elections in November.
What Must Be Done Right Now
All last week, people demonstrated in Washington, DC, demanding Trump's removal. These demonstrations were badly needed, but far too few people participated or supported these demonstrations through funding, publicizing, etc. Imagine the difference it might have made had tens and hundreds of thousands been sitting in at Senate offices, taking over the streets, and demanding the removal of this regime and making clear their determination to refuse to accept a fascist America. While nothing is certain, even in the short term it might have resulted in two Senators voting differently and a whole process where even more of the truth began to spill out.
But that didn't happen. Now these next few days will very likely witness the culmination of a certain stage of this struggle concentrated around the impeachment. Those who went on Twitter last night to denounce the verdict have a responsibility to show up now in the streets, wherever you are. On Monday, senators will make final arguments on the case. Tuesday night, Trump gives his State of the Union speech, in which he will almost certainly take the offensive against those who impeached him. Then on Wednesday, the Senate will vote. At this time, fascist victory in the Senate seems all but certain.
But what people do--what YOU do--in the next few days will matter greatly to the future. It will make a huge difference whether people in their masses continue to sit passively, either absorbing themselves in the elections as a substitute for action or sit on their couches despairing for the future, or whether there is serious protest in the streets saying NO! and declaring determination to fight on, truly resist, and ultimately drive this regime out. It will raise a standard and challenge the tens of millions who do hate this regime but as yet do nothing, and it will give hope to those here and around the world who suffer its grave attacks and terrible injustices.
And as you raise your head and join others to act against the outrage of the impeachment trial and all that the Trump/Pence regime has done, dig deep and learn about the system and why it has given rise to fascist regimes here and around the world, why the future is in peril from climate change and the threat of nuclear war... and, seek the way out of this madness-the new communism developed by Bob Avakian. This is a radically different and better way the world could be and a plan to get there. At this moment when this system has spawned such horror and threat, is it not time you checked the breakthrough in human emancipation that is the new communism?
Finally, a word to those who see what is coming and despair of the future--yet do nothing. Those in the streets are at least as aware as you are of the dire consequences of this regime, and this whole worldwide surge of fascism, if nothing meaningful is done to stop it. But your despair is a luxury that cannot be afforded by the desperate refugee children torn from their parents and put in cages by your fascist government. Your despair is a luxury that the transgender teenager whose rights have been ripped away by your fascist government cannot afford. Your despair is a luxury that the women who will be forced to have children against their will by your fascist government cannot afford. Your despair is a luxury that the survival of the interconnected web of life on this planet, being mindlessly torn up and shat upon by your fascist government at an accelerating speed, cannot afford. Your despair is a luxury that the Black teenager beaten or murdered by the cop emboldened by Trump's urgings cannot afford. Your despair is a luxury that those in other countries under the heel of tyrants backed by Trump, or suffering from sanctions imposed by this regime or the drone strikes it carries out, cannot afford.
The monster is here, now; join those who are fighting it.
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* What IS Fascism? - a full definition:
Fascism is the exercise of blatant dictatorship by the bourgeois (capitalist-imperialist) class, ruling through reliance on open terror and violence, trampling on what are supposed to be civil and legal rights, wielding the power of the state, and mobilizing organized groups of fanatical thugs, to commit atrocities against masses of people, particularly groups of people identified as "enemies," "undesirables," or "dangers to society."
At the same time--and this can be seen through studying the examples of Nazi Germany and Italy under Mussolini--while it will likely move quickly to enforce certain repressive measures in consolidating its rule, a fascist regime is also likely to implement its program overall through a series of stages and even attempt at different points to reassure the people, or certain groups among the people, that they will escape the horrors--if they quietly go along and do not protest or resist while others are being terrorized and targeted for repression, deportation, "conversion," prison, or execution.(Article changed on February 3, 2020 at 13:30)
(Article changed on February 3, 2020 at 13:47)
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