Refuse Fascism

Sunsara Taylor, co-host of The RNL (Revolution Nothing Less) Show and one of the initiators of RiseUp4AbortionRights.org discusses the new post-Roe federal legislation introduced by Lindsey Graham which would ban abortions after 15 weeks, overriding all protections for abortion rights at the state level. Follow Sunsara on Twitter at @SunsaraTaylor. Then, Sam Goldman interviews Dr. Heather Costello, an emergency room and hospice doctor in Chicago about the already terrible impact of the Dobbs decision, and expectations for the near and long-term future if we don’t rise up to stop the anti-abortion onslaught. 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 independent journalist and researcher Teddy Wilson about the base for fascism in the US and how they are responding to recent events. Subscribe to Teddy’s regularly updated Substack at radicalreports.substack.com and follow him on Twitter at @reportbywilson. Mentioned in this episode: The Oath Keepers Data Leak: Unmasking Extremism in Public Life from the ADL  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 the occasion of our 125th episode, RefuseFascism.org editorial board members Coco Das and Paul Street share recollections on the mission and analysis of the organization. Follow Coco Das on Twitter @Coco_Das. Read the statement Coco co-authored which was published in The New York Times as a full page advertisement days after the 2020 electoral defeat of Donald Trump here. Get Paul’s latest book, This Happened Here: Amerikaners, Neoliberals and the Trumping of America. Plus: Sam Goldman shares commentary on what some are calling Joe Biden’s “1860 speech” and his recent use of the phrase “semi-fascist” to describe the Republican Party. Then, she interviews freelance journalist Laura Jedeed about the recent history of that fascist organization through the lens of CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference). Read Laura’s recent article on CPAC for The New Republic here and follow her on Twitter @LauraJedeed and on Substack: laurajedeed.substack.com. 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 writer Kate Manning, author of My Notorious Life, a novel about a midwife and abortion provider from the 1800’s based on a true story. Read Manning’s op ed for The Washington Post, “Antiabortion laws are forced-birth laws. Here’s what that looks like.”  Follow Manning's work which includes other eloquent and pointed opinion pieces about women, abortion, and more, plus links to get her books, including her forthcoming novel Gilded Mountain at her website katemanningauthor.com. 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 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