#elections #MashaGessen

"As for the next presidential election, Trump has made his intentions clear: He is not planning to leave his throne. He may look for a pretext to cancel the vote. (When President Volodymyr Zelensky told him that Ukraine can’t have an election during the war, Trump visibly lit up: 'So you mean if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections? Oh, that’s good.') He may find a way to invalidate the vote after the election — he has been laying the groundwork for such a move since his first term. Even if he doesn’t, it is foolish to think that this iteration of our national nightmare will end in three years.

One term for regimes that maintain the trappings of democracy, such as legislatures, courts and elections, but use them primarily as decoration is 'electoral authoritarianism.' This is what we are becoming.

(. . .)

We can’t count on change being brought about by elections when we can’t count on elections. We can’t count on the freedoms and resources we enjoy today to still be available to us tomorrow."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/opinion/trump-one-year-later.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FlA.crde.7jYvifcOp0Zu&smid=url-share

Listening to WHERE THE JEWS AREN'T: The Sad and Absurd Story of Birobidzhan, Russia's Autonomous Region (2016) - Masha Gessen (narrated by Christina Delaine)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masha_Gessen#Bibliography

#MashaGessen #Russia #Book #Audiobook #Libby #Library #PublicLibrary #Jewish #Jews #Soviet #USSR #BiroBidzhan #ChristinaDelaine

Lese einen Artikel von M. Gessen über Normalisierung, über die Gewöhnung an die Folgen des authoritarian breakthrough in den USA. Und habe beinahe schon vergessen, dass der rechtsradikale Soziallandesrat der Steiermark Amesbauer ukrainischen Kriegsflüchtlingen gerade die erste Notunterkunft gestrichen hat, so dass einige in Graz unter freiem Himmel übernachten.

Fediverse Reactions

Zischen gegen Israel

„Juden in den Ofen!“, brüllt ein junger Mann in der Pariser Metro. Im selben Wagen fahren zwei Juden, der Dichter Paul Celan und sein Freund Franz Wurm. Es ist März 1970. Wenn sie aussteigen, wird sich Wurm später erinnern, sehen sie, »auf eine Mauer gesprüht, einen Davidstern und daneben = SS.

#borisschumatsky
#paulcelan
#franzwurm
#mashagessen

https://www.schumatsky.de/zischen-gegen-israel

Germany deporting EU citizens for their political activism is another chilling step towards a new era of authoritarianism - orchestrated not by the AfD, but by the so-called political centre...

And worse again, most of the German media seem to ignore this latest incident!

#Deutschland #Abschiebungen #EU #Ireland #Palestine #Gaza #protest #FarRight #AfD #authoritarianism #Staatsräson #NoOtherLand #MashaGessen #NancyFraser #OmriBoehm #AdaniaShibli

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/03/germany-deporting-pro-palestine-eu-citizens-chilling-new-step

What does she mean by the word "universal" because no definition I am familiar with fits this sentence?

"Replacing the memory of the Holocaust with that of other struggles — even legitimate ones — poses a grave threat and betrays the spirit of "Never again", which was meant as a universal call for vigilance, not as a pretext for contemporary hostility toward Jews." https://www.ajc.org/news/the-gaza-auschwitz-comparison-a-moral-failure published by the #AmericanJewishCommittee (never heard of them before) author Simone Rodan-Benzaquen oversees AJC’s offices in #Berlin

I can't even work out how this fits with any known definition of "again" or "vigilance"? If the Holocaust was such a unique historical event that resembles nothing in the present day … you've already defined away the possibility of "again", that is not vigilance, that's total negligence.

#NeverAgain means never again TO anyone and never again BY anyone.

#MashaGessen says most of my points better than I could.

cc other me @kmpiw

#NeverAgainForSome #neveragainisNOWinGaza #NeverAgainIsNOW #7October1944

"Discussion of #Israel and #Palestine has long fallen into a special category. Some have called it 'the Palestine exception to #FreeSpeech.' #BrooklynCollege, like other universities, has weathered many controversies in this area." - #MashaGessen

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/14/opinion/brooklyn-college-jewish-currents-gaza-war.html?unlocked_article_code=1.K04.U_kS.VD_aEd7NIv85&smid=url-share
#censorship #CUNY #FreeSpeechOnCampus #PalestineSolidarity #GazaSolidarity #Gaza #JewishCurrents #USpol #USpolitics @palestine