Speaking of an enemy within in subhuman terms, specifically calling them #vermin, and with various other verbal parallels to the rhetoric of #Hitler, court-sanctioned rapist and wannabe dictator #DonaldTrump has recently been showing his intentions in ever more stark terms.
What does this mean? And what are we to do, including and especially those of us outside the US?
1/
The Republican agenda under #Trumpism has three primary goals:
(a) to dismantle the very notion of the rule of law and any extant institutions capable of or willing to resist authoritarianism —"We can do whatever we want";
(b) to secure popular support through the promise and demonstration of #StateViolence against scapegoated minorities and through the preferential targeting of government support—"We will hurt (the people we've convinced you are) your enemies";
(c) to further centralise and cement the profits and power of extant ecocidal capitalistic #plutocracy—"Billionaires deserve to rule the final days of a planet being consumed by their own greed".
This is #FossilFuelledFascism. Far bigger than a single individual, it is a movement of resentment, fear and #MightMakesRight that won't simply disappear with electoral defeat or criminal convictions of its current unifying figurehead.
3/
The significance of this movement extends well beyond the borders of the #USA. What happens stateside rarely stays there. The potential for a thoroughgoing realignment of US allegiances and influence is mirrored by domestic resurgences of parallel #reactionary movements in many nations, many of them also drawing upon #ReligiousNationalism.
The temptation to bunker down or merely look away is pervasive. No one can do everything, nor are we expected to. But this might be a moment to consider afresh how we can nurture a world that is more open, just and respectful of #OurCommonHome.
4/
Some of us may already be contemplating specific deeds of #courage and conviction requiring sacrifice or risk. This may be the time for such acts: blow that whistle, take that #DirectAction, start that initiative, quit that soul-destroying job, reach out to that neighbour.
For others, it may require the painful acknowledgement of disturbing realities, accepting that so many of the dominant cultural narratives in which we swim are not neutral truths about the world, but are carefully designed to harm, pacify or recruit us into movements taking the world to darker places, exploiting hate, shame and fear to paint a false picture of life as a tragic #ZeroSumCompetition. This may be the time to question such manipulative claims. For many people, this is a season for redoubling our current efforts to build communities based on life-affirming narratives that are deeper, kinder and more honest than the ruthless logic of the market. And for yet others again, our task may simply be opening ourselves to discovering that such possibilities exist, that #AnotherWorldIsPossible.
5/
To my mind, current events point ever more powerfully towards an even stronger conclusion: another world is not only possible, but inevitable.
For better or worse, life as we currently know it will not continue.
Whether what comes next turns out to be better or worse than today remains very much up for grabs.
So who's up for grabbing it for good?
6/6
EndemicEarthling