A Florida court detained a US Citizen of Latino ethnicity for being an "illegal immigrant." He showed the court proof of citizenship. The court agreed he's a Citizen—but held him in jail anyway. As a human rights lawyer, I criticized the ruling online as unjust.
For my online critique, a Florida Chief judge filed a formal bar complaint to try to strip me of my law license. I've had to spend nearly $10,000 in fees to fight back: https://www.qasimrashid.com/p/a-florida-chief-judge-sided-with
@QasimRashid Rule of law does not interest fascists. They see the law completely differently: It only exists to serve their aims, never to criticise them. Those instances are to be invalidated and erased.
In fact, they see the whole world entirely differently: Everything starts from who should rule and everything else is derived from that.
Fascists LOVE rule of law.
It's justice they don't like.
These two things are not synonymous.
@violetmadder @QasimRashid No, you are mistaken with the terms. They love rule BY law.
”Rule of Law” is a specifically defined principle, not the stringing of three words together:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rule-of-law/
Fascists do pretend to be lawful, their rhetoric is all about legality, but they lie about everything.
On closed inspection the rhetoric falls apart and is revealed to be asymmetric: In-group is protected but not bound, out-group is bound but not protected.
@violetmadder @QasimRashid When you listen to neo-nazis, racists or Magas, you can clearly detect the EXPECTATION of asymmetry in how the law should be applied.
They have no concept of ”Rule of Law” as it is understood by liberal societies, but expect to be able to break it themselves while it is used to put down their enemies.
Authoritarians don’t speak in reasons, they speak in justifications. And because they do, they expect everyone else to also.
The "Rule of Law" as understood by liberal societies, is a fantasy that allows far too many people to be blinded by their naive expectation that the law is ever NOT applied asymmetrically.
Scratch a liberal and an authoritarian bleeds.
@violetmadder @QasimRashid bullshit. The tradition of rule of law built the democratic and liberal societies we had.
It is a pillar of modern societies that created incredible wealth and lifted billions out of poverty.
If you don’t believe in it, you are an authoritarian yourself. And responsible for the downfall.
The difference is exactly that: How you see the world. And if you can’t see your view isn’t the only one you are incapable of being anything else.
Modern societies are destroying the habitability of our fucking planet. That "incredible wealth" is a joke next to the value of the clean air soil etc and biodiversity that's currently being annihilated.
The law is at BEST an imperfect tool that will always miss the mark to some degree, even when genuinely good people are honestly doing their best to apply it fairly. The concept itself is flawed, and fetishizing it as some intrinsically just and holy ideal is a dangerous delusion.
Trump etc is the NATURAL, arguably inevitable result of this way of thinking and structuring society. His abuses are different from his predecessors only in scale (and stench), not kind.
Movement Memos: The Trap of Law and Order Under Fascism
Starting from: 00:45:08
Media file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/TRUO5380010187.mp3#t=2708
Qasim Rashid, Esq.
Toni Aittoniemi
Violet Madder