Category Archives: racism

Why we have to cut off the head of fascism again and again | Books | The Guardian

The 43 Club was founded in early 1946. It was comprised, at first, of tough, well-trained Anglo-Jewish former servicemen. These men set about disrupting the public meetings of the resurgent fascist movement. They also infiltrated it, at great personal risk, to gather intelligence – to learn their enemy’s plans so as to then sabotage them. They fought the fascists on the streets of British cities, and attracted increasing numbers to their cause. They were disciplined, principled and restrained. They were highly effective tactically, and didn’t hesitate to use brute force when it was required. By 1949 the fascist movement in Britain was effectively finished. Mosley had moved to France.Much of this is told by a founding member of the 43 Group, Morris Beckman, in an extraordinary book called The 43 Group: Battling with Mosley’s Blackshirts, published by the History Press. It’s a story of heroic resistance, also a kind of secret history of that rather murky period. I have borrowed heavily from Beckman’s account of that resistance in my new book, The Wardrobe Mistress. It is a novel of the London theatre in those years, and of the simultaneous revival of fascism in Britain. I end the story in a graveyard, with a kind of echo of the Nazi salute. Fascism may at times seem to fade away but it does not die. Whenever it raises its head, as Beckman and his friends understood and as did those protesters in Charlottesville, it must be resisted. Its head must be cut off, yet again.

Source: Why we have to cut off the head of fascism again and again | Books | The Guardian

Is Doxxing Ever Okay? | Dame Magazine YES!

I don’t “out” Neo-Nazis as a hobby because I dislike “bad behavior online.” I “outed” Neo-Nazis because after I made a joke about owning a gun vaporizer, they put a Photoshopped pig nose on my Twitter avatar, put that picture on their Daily Stormer Neo-Nazi blog, and unleashed a flood of angry white men into my mentions, telling me they hoped I would be raped by black men and kill myself as a result. I “outed” Neo-Nazis because they depend on fear and silence to keep their victims compliant. I “outed” Neo-Nazis because if your fucking kid is a Neo-Nazi, you need to fucking know it, Debbie.

Source: Is Doxxing Ever Okay? | Dame Magazine

Fake Assanges Drive Far-Right Messages – DFRLab – Medium

@DFRLab identifed a number of tweets from the @RealAssange account which used the term #Antifa in late August, racking up thousands of engagements (retweets and/or likes). Most were deleted before they could be archived, but they achieved hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of engagements.Some of these tweets linked the term #Antifa with billionaire George Soros, who is regularly attacked by far-right (and pro-Kremlin) conspiracy theorists. Others attacked CNN and Black Lives Matter, two other perennial targets of the far-right.

Source: Fake Assanges Drive Far-Right Messages – DFRLab – Medium

Hookworm, a disease of extreme poverty, is thriving in the US south. Why? | US news | The Guardian

“We now need to find how widespread hookworm is across the US,” said Dr Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, who along with Rojelio Mejia led the research team. Hotez, who has estimated that as many as 12 million Americans could be suffering from neglected tropical diseases in poor parts of the south and midwest, told the Guardian the results were a wake-up call for the nation.“This is the inconvenient truth that nobody in America wants to talk about,” he said. “These people live in the southern United States, and nobody seems to care; they are poor, and nobody seems to care; and more often than not they are people of color, and nobody seems to care.”

Source: Hookworm, a disease of extreme poverty, is thriving in the US south. Why? | US news | The Guardian

Trump’s decision to end DACA shatters moral compass of the country – Latina Lista: News from the Latinx perspective

Barring that, this action by Trump is further evidence that his administration is now on a very dangerous trajectory towards the full-throated endorsement of white supremacy – the likes of which we haven’t seen in the open from a sitting president for a century.Trump followed up his weak and insincere response to racist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia by pardoning notorious convicted racist Joe Arpaio, the former Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff, and condoning Arpaio’s abuse of official power in defiance of federal law and court orders. Trump praised those who marched at the University of Virginia with torches shouting “Jews will not replace us,” and, in July 2015, he launched his campaign by saying Mexican immigrants are rapists and murderers.But this action on DACA – to pull the rug out from under almost 800,000 documented immigrants and cast them back into the shadows – is the ugliest act of appeasement so far for the far-right’s white-supremacist goals.It has not gone unnoticed.

Source: Trump’s decision to end DACA shatters moral compass of the country – Latina Lista: News from the Latinx perspective

My colleague Maria was deported. I saw the void she – and others – leave behind | Nick Nelson | Opinion | The Guardian

Maria’s deportation is the worst possible outcome of an immigration policy that is not about the “rapists” and “criminals” with whom President Trump threatened us during his campaign, but about racist and inaccurate definitions of what it means to be American.Maria’s story makes it crystal clear that Trump’s immigration policy isn’t about keeping Americans safe; after all, it can’t even prioritize actual criminals over skilled healthcare workers who care for underserved patients. Rather, Trump’s policies pander to the worst impulses of a small segment of society who are afraid that a diverse America will leave no place for them.Maria was torn from our community and left a void which many will feel for a long time, in many cases for their entire lives. Nobody feels this more acutely than the three American daughters she left behind.Those of us who were her colleagues and her patients will miss her calm, compassionate competence. And I will miss the illusions I had about my community’s ability to protect our own when Trump’s minions come calling.

Source: My colleague Maria was deported. I saw the void she – and others – leave behind | Nick Nelson | Opinion | The Guardian

Wednesday Open Thread | Georgia State Rep. Jason Spencer warns black attorney she ‘may go missing’ if she tries to remove Confederate monument | 3CHICSPOLITICO

“Continue your quixotic journey into South Georgia and it will not be pleasant,” Spencer replied. “The truth. Not a warning. Those folks won’t put up with it like they do in Atlanta.”“I can guarantee you won’t be met with torches but something a lot more definitive,” he continued, responding to Jones’ comment about the store-bought tiki torches used by the white supremacists at the Charlottesville rally earlier this month.After another person commented about the differences between Atlanta (a city who has a large African American population) and the rest of Georgia, Spencer agreed.“They will go missing in the Okefenokee [swamp],” he wrote. “Too many necks they are red around here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you about ’em.”

Source: Wednesday Open Thread | Georgia State Rep. Jason Spencer warns black attorney she ‘may go missing’ if she tries to remove Confederate monument | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Trump was wrong to pardon controversial sheriff, Ryan says

“Law-enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the United States. We should not allow anyone to believe that responsibility is diminished by this pardon,” Ryan said in a statement.“The speaker does not agree with the decision,” Ryan’s spokesman Doug Andres said.Some other prominent Republicans, including Arizona Senator John McCain and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, have also criticized Trump for the controversial pardon.

Source: Trump was wrong to pardon controversial sheriff, Ryan says