We gather here the voices of individuals and organizations courageously speaking against the brutal inhumanity of the Trump/MAGA fascist regime in the spirit of "In the Name of Humanity, We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America."
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf: “If you’re really about human freedom and justice you have no choice but to speak up”
Etan Thomas is a former NBA player who was outspoken against U.S. wars when he was an active player in the early 2000s and has continued to speak out—most recently being one of the athletes signing a statement against Israel’s U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza. In a March 6 article in the Guardian, Thomas interviewed another former NBA player and activist, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Abdul-Rauf was suspended by the NBA in 1996 for refusing to stand for the pre-game national anthem, saying the U.S. flag was a symbol of oppression. Abdul-Rauf was also one of the signatories to the athletes’ statement against what Israel is doing to Palestinian people.
In the Guardian piece, Thomas begins by noting how Trump has “taken a blowtorch to America,” including pardoning the January 6 rioters and vilifying immigrants. In the interview, Abdul-Rauf speaks to the importance of athletes speaking out now about what is going on, because of the enormous influence they can have. In fact, he says, it’s “mandatory” for athletes—and others—to speak out. In the conclusion of the interview, Abdul-Rauf says: “If you’re really about human freedom and justice you have no choice but to speak up. With everything going on right now, it’s crucial for everyone to use whatever platform they have – not just athletes but everyone. I want to make that point clear. We can’t put this all on athletes even though we know and understand the level of influence athletes have. Silence is acceptance, compliance and ultimately agreement with the status quo. It was Huey P Newton who said: ‘I do not think life will change for the better without an assault on the establishment.’ With the magnitude of where we are right now, remaining silent isn’t an option. Either you’re part of the solution, or you’re part of the problem. And that goes for everyone, not just athletes.”
Read Etan Thomas’s interview with Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf here.
Jane Fonda: Life Achievement Award Acceptance Speech, February 24, 2025 | The 31st Annual SAG Awards
“Have any of you ever watched a documentary of one of the great social movements, like Apartheid or our Civil Rights Movement or Stonewall, and asked yourself: Would you have been brave enough to walk the bridge? Would you have been able to take the hoses and the batons and the dogs? We don’t have to wonder anymore, because we are in our documentary moment.”
During a recent White House event advertised as being for Black History Month, Black Trump supporters joyously announced the confirmation of Kash Patel as Trump’s FBI chief—with one saying, “Who’s getting ready for heads to roll?” and specifically naming Pastor Jamal Bryant, leader of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia. In his fiery response, above, Bryant declared, “I ain't ever scared. In case you forgot, I'm from the west side of Baltimore!” February 23, 2025
Richard Gere calls Donald Trump a ‘bully and a thug’ in his acceptance speech for the Lifetime Achievement Award at Spain’s Goya Awards, February 8, 2025.
Rep. Al Green: “We've got to demonstrate, and we’ve got to protest and be prepared to suffer the consequences.”
The fascist regime of horrors now on top in America was on full display when Trump addressed Congress and the world on Tuesday night, March 4, spewing out vicious lies, bragging, and threats. Meanwhile, the Democrats sat silent and paralyzed, some waving ineffectual little signs saying “false” and “Musk steals.” The one notable exception was Rep. Al Green, from Houston, who rose up and, waving his cane, interrupted Trump’s speech—denouncing Trump’s claim to have a “mandate” and in particular the threats to cut Medicaid. When he refused to sit down and be silenced, Green was forced out of the Congressional chambers. Two days later, Green was officially “censured” by the House for his action, with 10 Democrats joining in this outrageous punishment.
In an interview on Democracy Now!, Green was unrepentant, saying, “I will stand on what I have done. I’m not ashamed of what I have done” and that he was “prepared to suffer the consequences.” Green pointed to the historic example of the Selma march 60 years ago when hundreds of people courageously protesting for Black civil rights were violently attacked by Alabama state troopers in what came to be known as Bloody Sunday. Green said in the interview: “We have to have that kind of courage now. We’ve got to take a stand against what this president is doing with his incivility. We are going to have to demonstrate. We’re going to have to protest. I don’t want us to have to harken back to the '60s, but we are being treated is though we are in the ’60s. We have to do more than simply say that we want legislation. We've got to demonstrate, and we’ve got to protest and be prepared to suffer the consequences.”
Read/watch the interview here.
Rev. Michael Pfleger: “America, we must resist nonviolently, yes, but resist! Or we will find ourselves repeating Nazi Germany”
In an opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune on February 25, Rev. Michael Pfleger tells why his church, St. Sabina Catholic church in the city’s Black far south side, has been flying the U.S. flag upside down. He begins with a warning: “There is a danger of what’s happening in America become normalized. We have watched thousands of federal workers fired from their jobs, with no reason, putting their homes and families at risk. This administration has demonized thousands of Haitian, African, Venezuelan and Mexican immigrants as criminals and scooped them up like cattle, often separating parents and children and deporting them rather than fix the border.” Pfleger cites a number of other outrages being carried out by the Trump regime, including the “takeover and ethnic cleansing of Gaza” and banning of Black history in schools.
Flying the U.S. flag upside down, he writes, “is a symbol of distress and emergency, and our actions are to proclaim that America is in distress, and we are in a ‘state of emergency.’”
He says there is a choice facing everyone in this country: “There are those who truly seek and believe in building a country where there is freedom and justice for all, and another group that will fight, lie and steal to build a country of white supremacy and control by oppression. We must decide whose team we are on because history will judge us. We need to decide whether we will repent of our injustices and commit ourselves to being who we say we are or continuing on this path of wickedness.”
And Pfleger concludes with an urgent, righteous call: “America, we must resist nonviolently, yes, but resist! Or we will find ourselves repeating Nazi Germany.”
Governor of Illinois JB Pritzker, invokes specter of Nazi Germany in rebuke of Trump administration. | Eyewitness News WTVO WQRF
Former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe is arrested for protesting a MAGA sign at the Huntington Beach (California) Library | DW News | See also, Laura Coate's interview with Kluwe on CNN.
"I know what John Lewis would have done. He would have gotten arrested that day" | NowWeKnowNews | A teacher speaks at Congressman Paul Tonko's town hall meeting on Feb 21, 2025
Political scientists' statement, February 2025
Over twelve hundred political scientists from major universities in the U.S. have signed a statement that says,
In its early days, the second administration of Donald J. Trump has disregarded existing laws and regulations. It threatens to undermine the division of powers and checks and balances, hallmarks of America’s constitutional order.”
It lists as evidence six major actions Trump has taken. The statement ends with:
History tells us that actions like these by elected leaders can undermine democracies and destroy the rule of law. We urge the Administration to reverse course immediately.
Read the complete statement here.
Austin Sarat, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College recently posted an opinion piece “Why Are Campuses Quiet and College Leaders Silent When U.S. Democracy Is in Crisis?” on Inside Higher Ed —
The silence of college leaders is matched by the absence of student protests on most of their campuses. Recall that in 2016, when President Trump was first elected, “On many campuses, protests exploded late into election night and lasted several days.”
Nothing like that is occurring now, even as the Trump administration is carrying out mass deportations, threatening people who protest on college campuses, attacking DEI, calling for ethnic cleansing in Gaza, ending life-saving foreign aid programs and trampling the norms of constitutional democracy.
He then writes,
It is the job of those of us who teach at colleges and universities to help them [the students] see what is happening. This is no time for business as usual. Our students need to understand why democracy matters and how their lives and the lives of their families will be changed if American democracy dies.
Ultimately, we should remember that the costs of silence may be as great as the costs of speaking out.
Read the complete essay here.
Kendrick Lamar started in on "tv off", the last number in his Superbowl halftime show. At the same time Zül-Qarnain Nantambu, a New Orleans-based artist and one of 400 dancers on the stage, unfurled a joint Palestinian and Sudanese flag, raised it high and ran among the dancers. He had questioned himself, he told The Intercept, “Are you going to be brave? Are you going to be a coward? Are you going to take a stand?” And then decided, “What’s going on in these places are inhumane. The civil war in Sudan, the oppression and the war and the tyranny that’s going on in Gaza, is inhumane. And these people are connected with us all as humans, and especially with me in faith.” “I can’t live in America — live in a lap of luxury — while those are suffering, without trying to help or bring attention to it.”
Acceptance speech of Tilda Swinton, recipient of the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime achievement at the festive Opening of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival on February 13th, 2025.
George Conway: "J.D. Vance is telling us something we should've already known..."
On February 10 the American Bar Association, the largest voluntary association of lawyers and legal professionals in the world, issued a statement signed by its president, William R. Bay.
The ABA supports the rule of law
It has been three weeks since Inauguration Day. Most Americans recognize that newly elected leaders bring change. That is expected. But most Americans also expect that changes will take place in accordance with the rule of law and in an orderly manner that respects the lives of affected individuals and the work they have been asked to perform.
Instead, we see wide-scale affronts to the rule of law itself, such as attacks on constitutionally protected birthright citizenship, the dismantling of USAID and the attempts to criminalize those who support lawful programs to eliminate bias and enhance diversity.
. . .
We call upon our elected representatives to stand with us and to insist upon adherence to the rule of law and the legal processes and procedures that ensure orderly change. The administration cannot choose which law it will follow or ignore. These are not partisan or political issues. These are rule of law and process issues. We cannot afford to remain silent. We must stand up for the values we hold dear. The ABA will do its part and act to protect the rule of law.
We urge every attorney to join us and insist that our government, a government of the people, follow the law. It is part of the oath we took when we became lawyers. Whatever your political party or your views, change must be made in the right way. Americans expect no less. Read the complete statement.
Rev. Raushenbush: Trump is “waging war” on religious communities
In a February 10 opinion piece on the Religion News Service website titled “Trump isn’t defending religious communities—he’s waging war on them,” Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, head of the Interfaith Alliance and a Baptist minister, exposes the reality behind Trump’s creation of a new task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias.” Citing actions and statements from Trump, as well Vice President Vance and Elon Musk, Raushenbush writes that “it’s the political right and its Christian nationalist allies who are proving to be a grave threat to faith communities — including most Christians. In just its first few weeks since taking office, the Trump administration has quickly become the most harmful to religious freedom in modern American history.”
Raushenbush ends by writing, “Throughout history, authoritarians have attempted to force faith communities to bend the knee. We must stand strong and speak out knowing that faith-based activism is a powerful counterforce to extremism.”
Go here to read the whole opinion piece by Raushenbush.
Burning poster of Trump and swastika at a rally protesting Marco Rubio's visit to Panama City, February 2, 2025. Photo: AP
Teachers, students and others in Panama demonstrated against the visit of Marco Rubio (Trump's secretary of state). Diogenes Sanchez, the teachers’ union leader said protesters “categorically rejected the United States’ attempts to turn Panama into a protectorate and a colony again.” “We are going to fight to defend our national sovereignty.”
Outernational: Todos Somos Ilegales
The revolutionary band Outernational has been holding a Todos Somos Ilegales Concert Series, with different guest artists—broadcasting live and direct from First Live in Brooklyn, NYC, every Wednesday and livestreaming on YouTube and Instagram. Miles Solay of Outernational says: “I have put out an open call for a galvanizing cultural uprising amongst the artists in the USA who hate the ascendant fascist USA.”
World Fellowship Center Board Statement & Call to Action
“...We know that we are living through a moment in history that future generations will look back at and ask how certain things could possibly have taken place. We know that the founders of the World Fellowship Center hoped to create a space and foster a movement that would stand firm against such horrors as those listed above—and the more unthinkable horrors that will certainly come if we all do not take immediate action.
“And so we start with this statement and an open invitation to join us in concerted action to defend our core values and our collective future. We also reaffirm our commitment to sustaining and growing our supportive community spaces where we can come together, connect, reflect, strategize, heal, and find safety whatever the broader context.” Read the complete statement.
─ The WFC Board of Trustees
ICE Raids & African Americans
ICE vs Teachers? Don't mess with us.
Paul Street:
Vichy Times: On “Anticipatory Obedience”
Some News Not "Fit to Print"
I’ve been writing and speaking here about Vichy Dem capitulation — advance surrender really — to the insane Republi-fascist Amerikaner takeover of the United States in the wake of Mein Trump’s so-called election mandate... Read more
from The Paul Street Report
January 27, 2025
Paul Street is an independent progressive policy researcher, award-winning journalist, historian, author and speaker based in Iowa City, Iowa, and Chicago, Illinois. He writes daily at The Paul Street Report on the moves of the fascist Trump/Maga movement.
Bishop Mariann Budde: “May I ask you to have mercy Mr. President...”
Light projection by artist @lightguerrilla, Cal Anderson Park, Seattle, Washington, January 24, 2025. Photo: @streetphotojournalism
Abiodun Oyewole
I REMEMBER
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
IS WHAT WE USED TO SAY
DEAD PRESIDENTS NOW
ARE GETTING IN THE WAY
I REMEMBER A TIME
WHEN IT WASN’T ABOUT MONEY
IT WAS ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE
LIBERATION WAS OUR CURRENCY
FREE THE LAND WAS OUR WEALTH
WE RODE BAREBACK
ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF BANKS AND BULLETS
OF BILLY CLUBS AND BULLSHIT
WITH CLENCHED FIST
A SLINGSHOT OF POETRY
WE WERE COURAGEOUS
ATTACKED THE SYSTEM
WITH GOD AS OUR SHIELD
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
IS WHAT WE USED TO SAY
DEAD PRESIDENTS NOW
ARE GETTING IN THE WAY
WHY DID WE SURRENDER
TOOK OFF THE DASHIKI
PUT ON A SUIT AND TIE
HOW DID WE ALLOW FAILURE
TO BECOME FASHIONABLE
THE TRUTH TO SUCCUMB TO LIES
OUR BEAUTY
A PAGEANT OF SNOWFLAKES
OUR MAGIC
A SPORTING EVENT
IT SEEMS OUR MOVEMENT
WAS NEVER A MAIN FEATURE
JUST A THIRTY SECOND COMMERCIAL ON TV
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
IS WHAT WE USED TO SAY
DEAD PRESIDENTS NOW
ARE GETTING IN THE WAY
I GUESS YOU SAY
THE FIGHT IS OVER
WE SIT AT THE TABLE
SIP KOOL AIDE
EAT CREAM CHEESE SANDWICHES FOR LUNCH
I THOUGHT WE’D FIGHT
UNTIL WE’VE WON
I FIND NO COMFORT IN GIVING UP
THERE IS NO JOY IN LOSING BATTLES
I WANT TO WIN
THOUGHT YOU DID TOO
I GUESS I WAS WRONG
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
IS WHAT WE USED TO SAY
DEAD PRESIDENTS NOW
ARE GETTING IN THE WAY
I’M HOLDING ON TO MY WEAPONS
I REFUSE TO PAWN SHOP THE REVOLUTION
MAYBE I’LL SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE
CAN’T SAY I DON’T MISS
WHO YOU ONCE WERE
ABIODUN 1-23-25
ABIODUN OYEWOLE is a poet, author, teacher, and a founding member of the American music and spoken-word group The Last Poets, which laid the groundwork for the emergence of hip-hop. This poem reprinted with permission.
Light projection by artist @lightguerrilla, Cal Anderson Park, Seattle, Washington, January 24, 2025. Photo: @streetphotojournalism
Bishop Mariann Budde: “May I ask you to have mercy Mr. President...”
Fascism’s Final Gamble: The Fight for Democracy’s Last Breath
Henry A. Giroux
Amid the firestorm of democracy-destroying bombs Trump hurls at the institutions, values, and fragile promises of a wounded America, we must grasp the full anatomy of this assault. This is not simply an attack—it is a violent rupture in the very fabric of our society. It is fascism, thrashing in its death throes—gasping, desperate, clinging to power as the long-concealed rot of its politics collapses under the weight of its own deceit. For decades, it masqueraded beneath the banner of capitalism, but now, gangster capitalism stands naked, unable to mask its insatiable greed, its obscene inequality, and its total abdication of social responsibility. The last vestiges of its decency have fallen away, leaving only the cold, brutal machinery of exploitation. Read more
Henry A. Giroux currently holds the McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the English and Cultural Studies Department and is the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy. Giroux is also a member of Truthout’s board of directors. You can read more of his essays at LA Progressive.