Reposted from RefuseFascism.org:
5 Points on the Demand for Impeachment
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Refuse Fascism Editorial Group
An outcry after the release of the Mueller report has forced the Democrats to have to respond to the impeachment question. There is an emerging split within the Democratic Party between the anti-impeachment stance of Nancy “He’s just not worth it” Pelosi and the minority stance of Elizabeth Warren, who said at her CNN town hall, “There is no political inconvenience exception to the United States Constitution...if any other human being in this country had done what's documented in the Mueller report, they would be arrested and put in jail.”
In the wake of the redacted Mueller report being made public, there is a lot of complexity to what has been happening, both within and among the ruling parties, from the regime itself, and among the people. For an unparalleled examination on what it all means, we urge people to listen to Sunsara Taylor’s conversation with Andy Zee on WBAI – The Mueller Report: “People have to Wake the F___ Up!” The Stakes are Nothing Less than the Future.
The uptick in impeachment chatter is an important development, and the “switchboard” of prominent voices lighting up and pushing back against the anti-impeachment argument is something we need to pay attention to. While this chatter has not yet translated into masses of people in the streets in sustained, nonviolent protest, more and more people are recognizing how profoundly Trump is tearing up the norms of government and the danger of him consolidating unchecked power before 2020.
People are being pulled in seemingly irreconcilable directions, not just between groups or between individuals, but inside individuals’ own hearts and minds. People want desperately to do something but are also afraid of doing the wrong thing, and these fears are being stoked both by the Trump/Pence fascist regime and the Democratic Party leadership. The fact that a section of people are not willing to concede this question to the dominant party-line points to openings in the movement to drive out the fascist Trump/Pence regime through sustained, nonviolent protest.
The following points provide some guidance in light of all this contention and complexity:
- Within the normal channels, impeachment alone is not a precedent for removal. No U.S. president has ever been removed from office through impeachment. A simple majority in the House of Representatives can impeach, but a ⅔ majority in the Senate is required for removal. Even after the 2020 elections, that kind of majority is unlikely, especially without millions of people acting now to stop a fascist locomotive on a collision course with humanity. If millions of people act on their conscience and step outside the normal channels into a sustained, nonviolent protest movement, impeachment can open the door to resignation or become one mechanism by which the ruling forces, if they are compelled to by a mass movement from below, can try to resolve a crisis of legitimacy.
- We do not want President Pence, the leader of the Christian fascist wing of the regime. Aiming for nothing less than a Christian theocratic society ruled by biblical law and morality, Pence’s ascension to the White House, through his unholy alliance with Trump, is bringing about a Handmaid’s Tale nightmare in which women are forced to bear children, LGBT people are persecuted and erased, and science is suppressed. Refuse Fascism is mobilizing people around one unifying demand, the removal of the entire Trump/Pence regime. This can create an overwhelming rebuke of all of the values and aims of this fascist movement—the white supremacy, patriarchy, xenophobia, vicious wars with the escalating danger of nuclear war, and the fascist assault on truth, science, and the environment. History has shown us that the people acting together, with creativity, courage, and conviction, can force out tyrannical regimes.
- Impeachment cannot become another means by which the millions who hate what is happening become sucked into another waiting game as the Trump/Pence regime terrorizes more people. While people are arguing for impeachment, the decisive factor is whether or not a critical mass takes to the streets to stop this regime. The point needs to be brought home that no one’s vision of a positive future for humanity will be possible while this regime remains in power. The hour is getting late, and waiting until 2020 while this regime consolidates power is unconscionable. Sustained, nonviolent protests must be organized and launched at the soonest possible time.
- Without a “clamor” from below in the form of a critical mass of people in the streets, this crisis will not be resolved by the ruling powers in a way that is good for humanity. What we are facing is fascism: rule by open terror and violence, civil liberties stripped away, dissent criminalized, and group after group demonized and targeted along a trajectory that leads to real horrors. Fascism advances in stages and makes leaps in a vacuum of opposition. This regime is waging war on Muslims, immigrants, women, LGBT people, the press, science, and on the planet itself. We cannot rely on the Democratic Party to stop this. Absent a mass movement from below, the Democratic Party’s calculus will put order over justice and prevent people from breaking out of politics as usual.
- This is a time for millions to seriously confront, take up, spread, and get organized around the message of Refuse Fascism: “In the name of humanity, we refuse to accept a fascist America. This nightmare must end. The Trump/Pence regime must go!” People who are engaging in the call for impeachment need to get into our Call to Action and the vision it lays out for sustained, nonviolent protests that “...will shake millions awake, with many losing their adjustment to life under this regime. The international credibility of the regime will be undermined. A determined struggle that doesn’t yield and won’t be provoked can create a serious political crisis. Those in power who are themselves now under attack by the regime but conciliating with it would be compelled to respond to our struggle from below, leading to a situation where this illegitimate regime is removed from power.”
RefuseFascism.org is a movement of people coming from diverse perspectives, united in the recognition that the Trump/Pence Regime poses a catastrophic danger to humanity and the planet, and that it is our responsibility to drive them from power through non-violent protests that grow every day until our demand is met.
Go to RefuseFascism.org to learn more and find out how to participate.
The Sunsara Taylor WBAI Radio Show, a conversation with Andy Zee:
The Mueller Report: "People Have to Wake the F___ Up!" The Stakes Are Nothing Less than the Future (MP3)
The Democrats, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, etc., are seeking to resolve the crisis with the Trump presidency on the terms of this system, and in the interests of the ruling class of this system, which they represent. We, the masses of people, must go all out, and mobilize ourselves in the millions, to resolve this in our interests, in the interests of humanity, which are fundamentally different from and opposed to those of the ruling class.
This, of course, does not mean that the struggle among the powers that be is irrelevant or unimportant; rather, the way to understand and approach this (and this is a point that must also be repeatedly driven home to people, including through necessary struggle, waged well) is in terms of how it relates to, and what openings it can provide for, “the struggle from below”—for the mobilization of masses of people around the demand that the whole regime must go, because of its fascist nature and actions and what the stakes are for humanity.
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