By Thelma Sawyer
With only days left until November 5, I contemplate each presidential outcome and what it means for antifascists. One thing I feel deeply is that we will all be punished for our opinions should fascism win the electoral college.
The seething disdain for people who have decided Trump should never be president divides the American people in ways I’ve never seen. MAGA now agrees that if you don’t like Trump, you are an enemy and will be punished on day one of a fascist administration.
How and if that punishment is met, ironically will be up to the various law enforcement agencies. Will the San Diego sheriffs, with their disdain for Black Lives Matter, protect us against white supremacists? Will SDPD change their ways or will white nationalists still be favored at all protests where they show up or host? Will the DA still cherry-pick which defendants arrested at protests get charged and which do not?
There have been numerous rallies, counter protests and demonstrations where we all witnessed law enforcement failures. La Mesa PD shot an elderly woman in the face with a weapon that should NEVER be fired at the head. Then they harassed any merchants who spoke out about the heinous incident.
The Proud Boys rally in Pacific Beach, the one the day after the Jan. 6th riots in DC, was met with counter protestors who are now facing prison. The cops and DA had to really try hard to put these anti-fascists in jail in that criminal case but the cops and DA succeeded in vindicating the Proud Boys.
Ballot boxes are being lit on fire in some states and they are already talking about armed militias at the polls, mass refusal to certify results, and otherwise making election day chaotic and dangerous. Are the cops going to keep order, or are they going to enjoy the show? Or, will they stage a coup and help the fascists sow mayhem?
If I focused on such things I would know just how many law enforcement-connected rioters were arrested for their parts in DC on January 6th. I think there were a lot judging by the numerous press releases the DOJ has provided every time there is a new arrest or conviction of a cop. There were too many to ever trust them to protect democrats.
If fascism wins we may be safe until inauguration. Maybe.
There will be demonstrations and cops will hurt people but those who must, can stay inside and feel safe. If fascism loses, how big of a fit will they throw?
Will our democracy hold in the hands of police who seem to enjoy knocking people around at protests? By “safe” I mean maybe they won’t take over local government buildings and start hurting people until the administration takes power.
How long will this go on? Will our elections now be anxiety-provoking affairs where citizens feel free to hurt each other for their choices? Will we begin to loath elections?
Get that cat off the keyboard.
Pats has been asked to refrain from commenting here as they just the other day gave a full-throated endorsement of Trump and trashed Harris. Again, this is not a pro-fascist website.
TS: I really think you already answered the questions you posed.
Ever flip into any of the numerous cop watchers-auditor channels on youtube? Audit the Audit, We the People University (operated by an ex-cop and ex-sheriff deputy who also has a book out), The Civil Rights Lawyer… a whole raft full of other channels that deal with what their local cops are doing and saying. Yep, some are garbage channels, but there are many that show cops getting away with literal murder.
And smashing Constitutional rights away. Like Cartman on South Park, it’s all about their Ah-thor-it-tah and fragile egos that a large swath of cops visibly exhibit when they are ‘protecting & serving.”
Yes, there were many cops, retired cops, retired military, that attacked the Capitol on Jan 6th for Trump ready to hang VP Pence for not doing what he was told; to cheat. That San Diego woman, that Ashley Babbit the rightwingers whine about getting herself shot, was a Military Policewoman, an MP, who dishonored her oath to the Constitution as she was smashing her way through a window in the Capitol building.
Does anyone really want to trust these kinds of people to protect you? The photo and caption with this article says loads, doesn’t it?
What started with the Plantation Police Runaway Slave Patrols has morphed into…what we have now.
What cops don’t seem to realize is that the Bill of Rights was written expressly to KEEP THEM IN LINE because they are the first line of offense against the citizens. What happened after the Civil War? The slaves that were freed were treated how for the next hundred fifty years?
When the 1960s segregation fight the government bolstered it to what it is today. 1984
Here’s a question back at you:
Who were the people that were most responsible for the loading of ‘undesirables’ onto the trains headed for the work camps, concentration camps, and death camps in Germany? The local cops. “Just following orders” is a well-worn sentence in history.
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The Crisis of the Neoliberal University and the Need for a Working Class Alternative
As the contradictions of universities organized for capitalist and imperialist interests become more clear, the new student and worker movement in higher education has the opportunity to clearly articulate and fight for the type of university we want: one that defends the interests of the working class and oppressed.
https://www.leftvoice.org/the-crisis-of-the-neoliberal-university-and-the-need-for-a-working-class-alternative/
“They have faced off the repression of university administrators while unmasking the imperialist character of both the Democrats and Republicans in office who help to send the police to beat up students and workers.”
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Cops haven’t really changed much since the 1960s, have they? Those of us old enough saw this crap in real life and it hasn’t stopped yet.
End ‘qualified immunity’ so cops are forced to take responsibility for what they do, and require insurance just like doctors etc. Then dis-banding their overly-powerful unions would also be a good idea. No more ‘internal investigations’ that whitewash criminality, civilian oversight is a much better idea along with a national ‘corrupt cop’ public database that would keep the really bad ones from ‘resigning’ and moving to a new town.
And, as part of their training, mandatory courses in Constitutional law and how it applies to their job description & duties would be a very good idea. Minimum training time to equal AT LEAST the minimum of what it takes a hairdresser to be certified, 1 year.
sealintheSelkirks