How To Avoid Riots

Isn't it amazing how the rich and powerful always manage to blame everyone but themselves for all the bad consequences of their actions? Trump, as well as some other right wingers, blame Antifa for inciting the looting and riots. Some Democrats, believe it or not, blame Russia again for causing divisiveness among the American people. Not one word from either side of the political "divide" about the class divide that lay at the root of all this ugliness...

Trump even went as far as wanting to declare Antifa a terrorist organization. This man is so dumb... but deviously clever at the same time, maybe. You see, Antifa is no organization, it has no membership card, no monthly fee, no leadership, nothing. It's nothing but a name that's flown over from Germany which is used as an umbrella-expression for all leftist activist groups. Antifa is simply a designation of ALL those loosely connected groups; "fascism" is decidedly reactionary and right-wing, the most extreme reaction to and opposition against progressivism, so it's only natural for leftist activist groups to be gathered under the label of anti-fascism. So, you can't declare Antifa to be a terrorist organization, because it isn't an organization. The Ku Klux Klan on the other hand IS an organization, with members and leadership, the whole shabang, and that organization still isn't declared a terrorist organization.

What Trump achieves with this stupid suggestion is this: by declaring Antifa a terrorist organization, he declares ALL leftist activism to be terrorist. And with that he moves another step closer to becoming the fascist so many already suspect he secretly is. I've always taken a reserved stance; to me Trump is a misogynist, a racist and an illiterate dumbo, traits shared with many real fascists (and unfortunately with extremists on both sides of the political spectrum), but calling him personally a fascist or the "new Hitler", is one bridge too far for me. Or at least it was until these last couple of days. He's now dangerously close to exposing himself as a true fascist. To explain why, I'll quote some of his address, the one in which he warned that he would use the military to stamp down on the riots, even if local authorities don't want him to.

"Those who threaten innocent life and property will be arrested, detained and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I want the organizers of this terror to be on notice that you will face severe criminal penalties and lengthy sentences in jail. This includes Antifa and others who are leading instigators of this violence."

On the surface and without context this doesn't even sound that extreme, now does it? Rioting and looting is, ultimately, unwanted and criminal behavior. Some policemen have also lost their lifes and many regular citizens and small businesses have been damaged by this violent reaction to George Floyd's murder. But it's the reaction, the official reaction to this murder that makes Trump's words unconscionable. Where was this level of outrage when a policeman murdered a defenseless black man? If Trump, and other politicians "left" and right, would have had the same harsh words for the policemen associated with Floyd's murder, I'd say there's a fair chance all this rioting wouldn't even have occurred. Imagine Trump saying the following right after we all witnessed this horrible crime:

"Those responsible for the violent death of George Floyd will be arrested, detained and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I want the organizers of this terror to be on notice that you will face severe criminal penalties and lengthy sentences in jail. This includes involved members of the Minneapolis police department and others who are leading instigators of this race-based and class-based injustice."

Or something like that. Words like this would have prevented much of the unrest and violence, I'm sure. And further back in time, what if Obama didn't bail out the instigators of the 2008 financial crisis, but their victims? Occupy Wall Street, which popularized the 1% against the 99% meme, wouldn't have been as successful as it was. Or what if in this pandemic-induced economical crisis billions weren't spent to again bail out Wall Street, but Main Street instead? Every time it's we, the people who pay for the disasters caused by those with economical power, we are the victims of those who want to keep intact, by any means necessary, the power structure that benefits the few. Fascism has the same goal, but wraps it up in some populist gift paper to be sold to the masses by a strong leader. If by this point you're still unable to see through the rhetoric of this clown, if you still believe Trump is a champion of the people, I don't have words left to convince you otherwise. The constant refusal to deal with the real causes of the disenfranchisement of regular working people, and even blaming these working people for their own powerlessness, by politicians on the "left" and the right, has created the circumstances in which fascism can easily take hold. Trump's most recent actions and words, like "when the looting starts, the shooting starts", basically giving carte blanche to the police to use deadly force against looters, and him threatening to let loose the military on the people, make him the fascist strong man I hoped he wasn't. Well, it was a small hope anyway...

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