Refuse Fascism

Sam Goldman interviews Leah Litman, Assistant Professor of Law and University of Michigan and cohost of Strict Scrutiny podcast, discussing the past, present and future of the Trump-appointee dominated SCOTUS. Follow Leah Litman on Twitter at @leahlitman. Plus: Merle Hoffman, one of the co-founders of Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights speaking at the Society for Ethical Culture. Follow @RiseUp4Abortion and @MerleHoffman. Read the dissent to Dobbs v. Jackson here: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22067295-dobbs-dissent Refuse Fascism is more than a podcast! You can get involved at RefuseFascism.org. Send  your comments to samanthagoldman@refusefascism.org or @SamBGoldman. Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support: · Venmo: @RefuseFascism · Cashapp: $RefuseFascism · paypal.me/refusefascism · donate.refusefascism.org Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

Sam interviews Dr. Henry Giroux, renowned educator and author of recently published pieces The Nazification of American Education and The US Is Descending Into a Crisis of Overt Fascism. There’s Still a Way Out.  Also see Florida students return to schools reshaped by Gov. DeSantis' anti-'woke' education agenda. Follow Dr. Giroux on Twitter at @HenryGiroux and visit his website at henryagiroux.com. The FBI raid of Trump's Mar-a-Lago is increasing pressure on Trump. In this situation, there is continuing danger and positive potential for the people to weaken a fascist leader and movement. But left on its own, without a mass showing of opposition to what Trump stands for, it will not be enough.  Trump and his GOP have been incredibly resilient, finding opportunities to turn their "defeats" into opportunities for further hardening of a fascist core. Look at how his supporters are responding to the raid. Every setback he has weathered has led to more vengeance and violence. This is a key lesson of January 6th.  There is no lack of evidence against Trump. But the problem w/ Trump & Co has never been finding the stuff. There is if anything a glut of evidence. That he still leads his movement despite all this evidence is part of why he is so effective and celebrated.  Right now, the corrupt ex-president of S. Korea is serving a 20-year sentence. In 2016 and 2017, it took 20 successive Saturday night rallies bringing 16 million into the streets to get her impeached. She was arrested shortly after being driven out of office.  Trump and his GOP are planning Coup 2.0. If we allow that to go down, they will be all out for revenge and the stakes for humanity will be exponentially higher.  Fascism can & is happening here & it can't simply be voted away. Relying on official channels, on voting alone, on the Democrats to remedy this instead of taking to the streets in a sustained way has led to inaction & conciliation with fascism. The question remains, what will the decent people do? Will the future be fascist, or will we act?  In the Name of Humanity, We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America!  Refuse Fascism is more than a podcast! You can get involved at RefuseFascism.org. Send  your comments to samanthagoldman@refusefascism.org or @SamBGoldman. Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support: · Venmo: @RefuseFascism · Cashapp: $RefuseFascism · paypal.me/refusefascism · donate.refusefascism.org Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

Sam interviews writer and pundit Danielle Moodie about the current state of fascism in the United States and how to actually stand up to the fascist bullies (hint: it’s not what the Democrats are doing right now). Listen to Danielle every weekday on her podcast Woke AF and every week on Democracy-ish (with Wajahat Ali). Follow her on Twitter at @deetwocents on Instagram @deetwocents at and on TikTok at @daniellemoodie_.   Note: Abortion remains legal for now in West Virginia as the House and Senate failed to agree on a bill. Support the abortion rights protesters arrested in LA for staging a dramatic civil disobedience art statement at the LACMA museum here.  *No show next week - the next episode will be released 8/14/22. Refuse Fascism is more than a podcast! You can get involved at RefuseFascism.org. Send  your comments to samanthagoldman@refusefascism.org or @SamBGoldman. Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support: · Venmo: @RefuseFascism · Cashapp: $RefuseFascism · paypal.me/refusefascism · donate.refusefascism.org Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

Sam speaks to the Rachael Wachstein (first interviewed on Episode #35 in December 2020 - find her on Facebook) again, this time to discuss Robert Crimo, Jr., the mass shooter who murdered people at the Highland Park July 4 parade this year, 2022. Wachstein witnessed not only this horrific event but recognized Crimo as one of the pro-Trump "Stop the Steal" fascists she had been counter-protesting in her community over the past couple of years. She makes a forceful case for his fascist motivations and discusses why it's so hard for people to take these violent fascists seriously as an organized movement, rather than "lone wolves."  Background info and debate on the motivations of the Highland Park shooter at The Forward. Refuse Fascism is more than a podcast! You can get involved at RefuseFascism.org. Send  your comments to samanthagoldman@refusefascism.org or @SamBGoldman. Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support: · Venmo: @RefuseFascism · Cashapp: $RefuseFascism · paypal.me/refusefascism · donate.refusefascism.org Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

It's just a few weeks into the hellscape that is a post-Roe United States... Sam and Mark chat about just a few of the stories that have come out in recent weeks illustrating the growing catastrophe. Donate to support the Indiana doctor currently under fire from fascist forces for providing abortion care to a 10 year old rape victim who traveled from Ohio here. Recommended Reading: They Will Never Believe Us by Jessica Valenti Dr. Caitlin Bernard Was Meant to Write This With Me Before She Was Attacked for Doing Her Job by Tracey A. Wilkinson Plus: some of the latest revelations on Trump's fascist coup attempt, which stretched far before the Jan 6th attack on the Capitol, see a few of our previous episodes to look deeper into the lead up: #36 Eric Boehlert: Trump plots martial law from White House — the press shrugs (Jan 3, 2021) #35 If it could happen there, it could happen here (Dec 27, 2020) #33 "Fight for Trump" = Fight for Fascism (Dec 13, 2020)  Also: RiseUp4AbortionRights.org has been subjected to a series of scurrilous Cointelpro-style attacks from both fascist and progressive publications and organizations. See:  To Those Who Would Rather Lie, Slander, and Attack Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights Than Unite All Who Can Be United Against This Fascist Assault We Need Honest Debate, Not Unprincipled Attacks: A Further Response to the Attacks On Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights by Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights co-initiators Merle Hoffman, Lori Sokol, Sunsara Taylor Also find responses from Sunsara Taylor and the Revcoms: In Reply to the Reactionary Hit Piece in the Daily Beast: Why I DO Follow Bob Avakian... and Why YOU Should Too by Sunsara Taylor A Reply to the “Statement Against RiseUp4AbortionRights”:In Defense of the Emancipation of Humanity and the Leadership We Need to Get There (The Revcoms) Refuse Fascism is more than a podcast! You can get involved at RefuseFascism.org. Send  your comments to samanthagoldman@refusefascism.org or @SamBGoldman. Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support: · Venmo: @RefuseFascism · Cashapp: $RefuseFascism · paypal.me/refusefascism · donate.refusefascism.org Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

Sam interviews Dr. Thomas Lecaque about apocalyptic Christianity, the GOP in 2022 and the medieval roots of support for secular fascists like Trump from Christian nationalists. Read his recent articles Patriot Front and the Next Stage of the Culture War, "Jesus, guns, babies": Religious violence is now at the core of the Republican Party, and this piece from 2019 in The Washington Post: The apocalyptic myth that helps explain evangelical support for Trump. Follow Dr. Lecaque on Twitter @tlecaque and on LinkedIn.  Also mentioned in this episode:  Gospel According to the Klan by Kelly Baker Check out the latest statement at riseup4abortionrights.org: The Overturning of Abortion Rights Is ILLEGITIMATE! This Decision Must Not Stand. Into the Streets to Demand: The Federal Government Must Restore NATIONWIDE LEGAL ABORTION NOW! Refuse Fascism is more than a podcast! You can get involved at RefuseFascism.org. Send  your comments to samanthagoldman@refusefascism.org or @SamBGoldman. Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support: · Venmo: @RefuseFascism · Cashapp: $RefuseFascism · paypal.me/refusefascism · donate.refusefascism.org Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

Sam and Coco Das discuss Coco's new article for The Independent: Roe has been overturned and women’s bodies are no longer their own in America. Here’s what to do now. Follow Coco at @Coco_Das. Over the past couple weeks SCOTUS has issued a series of rulings that flag that they are no longer concerned with the appearance of legitimacy: rights no longer need to be read to people arrested by the police, states cannot issue laws restricting who can conceal guns, and the EPA cannot prevent power plants from filling the air with pollution. They also agreed to hear a case that would enable state legislatures to conduct elections according to whatever procedures they set... and of course overturned the constitutional right to abortion, setting in motion the chaos we're seeing across the country as clinics shut down and patients, including a 10 year old rape victim from Ohio, have had to travel great distances to obtain access to abortion. Where do we go from here? Check out riseup4abortionrights.org which is calling for continued mobilization in the street to demand the full reinstatement of the right to legal abortion at a national level. Read the response to unprincipled and divisive attacks. Read Coco's speech from the protest in Austin, Texas here: We can turn this around, not as the people we are now but as the people we become through this struggle. Refuse Fascism is more than a podcast! You can get involved at RefuseFascism.org. Send  your comments to samanthagoldman@refusefascism.org or @SamBGoldman. Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support: · Venmo: @RefuseFascism · Cashapp: $RefuseFascism · paypal.me/refusefascism · donate.refusefascism.org Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

On our first post-Roe episode, we share some of the voices from the streets over the last couple days outside the Supreme Court demanding the federal government restore the fundamental right to abortion across the country NOW, including Sunsara Taylor (@sunsarataylor), Paxton Smith (@paxtonsmith) and youth organizers. Then, writer and pundit Wajahat Ali talks to Sam about the January 6 hearings which have unearthed in great detail (though not exhaustive, as Ginni Thomas's key role continues to be obscured) the Trump regime's attempted coup plot. Read his latest piece for The Daily Beast: No, Our Institutions Didn’t Hold After Jan. 6—Just Look at the GOP and follow him on Twitter at @WajahatAli. How are we accepting a ruling that reverses a fundamental right for more than half the population, issued by an illegitimate court full of fascists appointed by a (perhaps soon-to-be-indicted) criminal?  Answer: we're not. Check out the latest at RiseUp4AbortionRights.org. Refuse Fascism is more than a podcast! You can get involved at RefuseFascism.org. Send  your comments to samanthagoldman@refusefascism.org or @SamBGoldman. Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support: · Venmo: @RefuseFascism · Cashapp: $RefuseFascism · paypal.me/refusefascism · donate.refusefascism.org Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

Sam Goldman takes a break from protesting outside the Supreme Court to interview writer Jill Filipovic about the looming abortion rights disaster. Follow Jill’s work at jill.substack.com and follow her on Twitter at @JillFilipovic. Then, Sunsara Taylor interviews lawyer and host of the Amicus podcast Dahlia Lithwick about the legal rationale behind overturning the right to abortion and the many other implications to individual freedom in the US (this interview originally appeared on The Revolution Nothing Less show). Tuesday, June 21 at 9am, RiseUp4AbortionRights.org is calling for people to Come to the Supreme Court in DC and Stay; STOP the Supreme Court from Taking Away Abortion Rights! Find out more and get involved at riseup4abortionrights.org. Refuse Fascism is more than a podcast! You can get involved at RefuseFascism.org. Send  your comments to samanthagoldman@refusefascism.org or @SamBGoldman. Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support: · Venmo: @RefuseFascism · Cashapp: $RefuseFascism · paypal.me/refusefascism · donate.refusefascism.org Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown

Sam Goldman interviews Dr. Federico Finchelstein on the recent Op Ed he wrote with Dr. Jason Stanley in the LA Times: White replacement theory is fascism’s new name. Follow @FinchelsteinF on Twitter and check out his newest book, Fascist Mythologies: The History and Politics of Unreason in Borges, Freud, and Schmitt. Recommended reading: The first January 6 hearing served up surprising revelations — that all point to Trump (Ben Jacobs in Vox) Jan. 6 Committee Details Proud Boys, Oath Keepers Involvement in Capitol Insurrection (SPLC) Elegy for a lost America: Will the Jan. 6 committee really change anything? (Jeff Sharlet in Salon) Buffalo: A Brutal Killer… A Heartless White-Supremacist System (Revcom.us) Let Us Prey (Rafia Zakaria in The Baffler) This coming week, RiseUp4AbortionRights.org is calling for people to Come to the Supreme Court in DC and Stay; STOP the Supreme Court from Taking Away Abortion Rights! Find out more and get involved at riseup4abortionrights.org. Refuse Fascism is more than a podcast! You can get involved at RefuseFascism.org. Send  your comments to samanthagoldman@refusefascism.org or @SamBGoldman. Connect with the movement at RefuseFascism.org and support: · Venmo: @RefuseFascism · Cashapp: $RefuseFascism · paypal.me/refusefascism · donate.refusefascism.org Music for this episode: Penny the Snitch by Ikebe Shakedown