We are featuring here some of the voices of individuals and organizations—coming from a diverse range of political perspectives and viewpoints—who are courageously speaking against the brutal inhumanity of the Trump/MAGA fascist regime. Now is a time to unite all who can be united to demand: The Trump Fascist Regime Must Go NOW! In the name of humanity, we refuse to accept a fascist America!
Voices of Resistance, October 14 to present >>
Voices of Resistance, August 18 to October 13, 2025 >>
Voices of Resistance, June 23 to August 17, 2025 >>
Voices of Resistance, May 12 to June 22, 2025 >>
Voices of Resistance, April 7 to May 11, 2025 >>
Voices of Resistance, January 21 to April 6, 2025 >>
Voices of Resistance September 30 to October 6, 2025
Jane Fonda: "We have to move fast."
Jane Fonda announced on October 1 the reestablishment of the Committee for the First Amendment. This Committee was first formed in 1947 to oppose the work of the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy period. Her father, actor Henry Fonda, was part of the original group.
Other members of the newly re-formed committee include filmmakers Spike Lee, Barry Jenkins, J.J. Abrams, Patty Jenkins, Aaron Sorkin and Judd Apatow; TV show creator Quinta Brunson; musicians Barbra Streisand, John Legend, Janelle Monáe, Gracie Abrams and Billie Eilish; comedians Tiffany Haddish and Nikki Glaser; as well as actors Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Kerry Washington, Pedro Pascal, Natalie Portman, Viola Davis, Fran Drescher, and Ben Stiller.
More than 550 people had already signed the statement when it launched. Since then hundreds more have signed.
October 1 , 2025
Today, we relaunch the Committee for the First Amendment.
This Committee was initially created during the McCarthy Era, a dark time when the federal government repressed and persecuted American citizens for their political beliefs. They targeted elected officials, government employees, academics, and artists. They were blacklisted, harassed, silenced, and even imprisoned.
The McCarthy Era ended when Americans from across the political spectrum finally came together and stood up for the principles in the Constitution against the forces of repression.
Those forces have returned. And it is our turn to stand together in defense of our constitutional rights.
The federal government is once again engaged in a coordinated campaign to silence critics in the government, the media, the judiciary, academia, and the entertainment industry.
We refuse to stand by and let that happen. Free speech and free expression are the inalienable rights of every American of all backgrounds and political beliefs – no matter how liberal or conservative you may be. The ability to criticize, question, protest, and even mock those in power is foundational to what America has always aspired to be.
We understand that this is a frightening and confusing moment for many people. We recognize that we represent just one group of many who are under threat right now. Across classrooms, libraries, factories, companies and workplaces of all kinds, Americans of every walk of life are facing intimidation and censorship too — and we stand with them.
We know there is power in solidarity and strength in numbers. We will stand together—fiercely united—to defend free speech and expression from this assault. This is not a partisan issue. That is why we urge every American who cares about the First Amendment—the cornerstone of our democracy—and every artist around the globe who looks to the United States as a beacon of freedom to join us....
Kirk Wolff: "Why I am Burning the Flag"
Kirk Wolff is a U.S. Navy veteran and a law student at the University of Virginia. He burned the U.S. flag about 90 minutes after Trump tweeted that anyone who did this would be arrested immediately. His statement read in part:
The president does not get to say what the law is; that is solely the province of the judiciary. He must be reminded that his political enemies are not military enemies, and that he cannot stop free speech, expression, and democracy....
This symbolic act is meant to i) show that we still have agency and can disobey and ignore threats from a wannabe dictator and ii) to call attention to the existential threats to our democracy we currently face. All citizens must take a stand at this moment.
Kirk Wolff talks about his actions:
Trump just announced that anyone who burns a flag will be arrested on-site.
My friend Kirk just burned a flag in front of a military installation.
Nothing happened.
Trump’s word is not the law. He is not our king, and never will be. https://t.co/lwEO1TA8Kc pic.twitter.com/1pu1ap6rWZ— Micah (@micah_erfan) October 4, 2025
Invitation sent out on social media.
Burning the flag about 90 minutes after Trump tweeted his threats.
Floyd Webb: "When the government turns its guns inward, law becomes a costume for power."
Floyd Webb is a multimedia producer and filmmaker. He worked on Public Toilet Africa, United Skates, Daughters of the Dust, and many more. He is a founder of Chicago's Black Harvest Film Festival. This essay was written in the wake of ICE attacks in Chicago this week. It said in part:
Fighting Forward: Free speech, due process, and belonging in a time of fear
....For years, we warned that the machinery of fear — the raids, the cages, the shadow contracts — was not just about immigration.
It was about building a domestic paramilitary arm, one that could be pointed inward when the moment came.
Now, that arm has been raised....
The Lesson
The United States is not yet past the point of return.
But every day the machinery of state violence goes unchallenged, the gears grind deeper.
Each time fear is excused,
each time loyalty replaces law,
each time faith becomes a weapon — the ratchet turns another click.
We have seen this story before.
We know how it ends.
The question is whether we will act while the mask is still slipping, or only when it finally falls.
“History doesn’t repeat itself — it warns. The question is whether we’re still listening.”
Portland, Oregon Councilor and veteran Mitch Green speaks to people in military:
“Use your voice to speak out against the Trump administration and its unlawful designs for Portland.”
Portland Councilor and vet Mitch Green calls on former and current people in the military to protest Trump’s fascism and refuse illegal orders.
Italian Dockworkers block Israel-bound explosives:
"I do not want our port to become complicit in the ongoing massacre in Gaza"
On September 28, Italian dockworkers refused to transport two containers that contained explosives that were being shipped to Israel.
Athletes demand Israel’s UEFA suspension after killing of “Palestinian Pelé”
Professional athletes in “Athletes for Peace” Issuing a statement demanding the suspension of Israel from the Union of European Football Associations, the governing body for soccer after the killing of “the Palestinian ‘Pele’.
The statement said in part:
In August this year, the world lost Suleiman al-Obeid, known as the “Palestinian Pelé”, a footballing talent who inspired countless children. According to the Palestine Football Association, he was killed when Israeli forces attacked civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in southern Gaza. In life, he brought hope through sport; in death, he has become a stark reminder of why the world, and in particular sporting bodies, must act….
We, the signatories of Athletes 4 Peace (athletes4peace.org), call upon UEFA to immediately suspend Israel from all competitions until it complies with international law and ends its killing of civilians and the widespread starvation.
Sport is not neutral in the face of injustice. To remain silent is to accept that the lives of some are worth less than others. We believe in one standard for all nations and all people, justice without double standards.
Jewish Voice for Peace editorial in UC’s The Daily Californian October 1:
UC Berkeley aligns with fascism, not Jewish safety
Jewish Voice for Peace at UC Berkeley is a student-run club which states that it “aims to provide a space for Jewish students and allies to advocate and organize in solidarity for Palestinian human rights.” Following is from a statement protesting UC Berkeley handing over names to the government.
On Sept. 4, 160 members of the UC Berkeley community — including students, alumni, staff and faculty — were notified that their names had been turned over to the federal government as part of an investigation into alleged antisemitism. As Jewish Voice for Peace, let us be clear: Handing over these names is not done out of concern for the safety of Jews. It is a collaboration with an authoritarian witch hunt, a disgusting descent into fascism and an active investment in the most live-streamed genocide in history….
Jewish Voice for Peace condemns UC Berkeley’s transparent and sinister capitulation as a betrayal of its own supposed ideals and the campus community. The exploitation of Jewish safety to justify Palestinian death is reprehensible. As Jewish students, we reject accusations that say solidarity with Palestine is antisemitic. To stand against genocide and to stand in solidarity with Palestine is not just a human imperative — it is a core Jewish value. UC Berkeley’s actions are a weak attempt to hide its alignment with an antisemitic government by falsely claiming to care for Jewish students….
Though the Trump administration is aligned with neo-Nazis and white supremacists, it is using this investigation to claim solidarity with Jews. This solidarity is a sham. The list is not intended to protect Jewish students but to intimidate those who advocate for a free Palestine.…
The investigation by the Department of Education is but one step in our nation’s attempt to silence the voices of those standing against this genocide. We are living through an intensified period where dissent is criminalized, solidarity is treated as a threat and the language of “safety” is used to justify state violence. Our ancestors experienced this in Nazi Germany and would be ashamed to see it repeated now. UC Berkeley has chosen to side with tyrannical power. This pattern endangers Palestinians above all and will forever be remembered as a bloody stain on the reputation of this campus.
Rally outside Columbia for Mohsen Mahdawi a day before his court hearing
A rally took place
outside of Columbia University in support of Mohsen Mahdawi. Mahdawi is one of
many students the Trump regime is trying to deport for taking a stand against
the US/Israeli genocide in Gaza. Mahdawi spoke together with Mahmoud Khalil, also
fighting deportation by the Trump administration. They were joined by some
professors standing up against the attacks on academic freedom and the right to
protest.
Mass arrests as "Rabbis for Ceasefire" block the Brooklyn Bridge:
"On this sacred holiday of Yom Kippur we are mourning the dead murdered with our tax-payer money to support a genocide"
"Rabbis for Ceasefire" blocked the Brooklyn Bridge in protest of the genocide in Gaza. Their September 16 statement read in part:
Israel has begun a ground invasion of Gaza City, home to 1.3 million Palestinians. Israel has issued evacuation orders not just for Gaza City but also for the “humanitarian zones” that have been established. The conditions in those “humanitarian zones” are so dire many returned to the densely populated Gaza City which has been under constant siege and bombardment. The IDF has been systematically levelling buildings, including schools-turned-shelters run by the United Nations filled with displaced families. There is nowhere safe in Gaza....
Let us embrace this season of repentance as a time of Jewish communal uprising, refusing our holy days as a personal salvation, insisting every synagogue and every Jewish leader finds the courage to declare: for us to be inscribed in the book of life we must demand that Israel Let Gaza Live!
john a. powell: When law firms, corporations, and universities are scrubbing their websites, not because they have a change of heart or that they are breaking the law, but because they are afraid, then we are in a very dangerous place.
john a. powell is a well-known professor at the University of California at Berkeley. He is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of civil rights, civil liberties, structural racism, housing, poverty, and democracy. His essay "Fighting Forward: Free speech, due process, and belonging in a time of fear" read in part:
Berkeley—and every university—must decide whether it will cave to raw power and threats as it did in the McCarthy era, or whether it will lean into its legacy as the home of free speech, civil rights, and human dignity. Our choice today is not only about investigations or accusations. It is about the future of belonging and democracy in this country.
I am aware that standing up has risks, but I am also aware that not standing up may have greater risks.
Voices of Resistance September 15 to September 21, 2025
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield resigns from company
“It’s with a broken heart that I’ve decided I can no longer, in good conscience, and after 47 years, remain an employee of Ben & Jerry’s,”
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream company was sold to Unilever in 2000, with an agreement that the founders Ben and Jerry, and their board, would continue to be free to speak on social issues. In 2021, Ben & Jerry's announced it would stop selling its ice cream in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank, calling that practice "inconsistent with our values." According to NPR, Unilever says “the current dispute is the ‘direct result’ of the [Ben & Jerry’s] board's decision to opine on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ‘without any regard to the negative impact’ on both companies.” The Ben & Jerry’s board claimed that their parent company had prevented them from sharing social media posts about student protestors, Black Lives Matter and a ceasefire in Palestine, among other issues. The board also said that Unilever had stopped them from donating to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Jewish Voice for Peace. Unilever fired the CEO in early 2025 after he refused to silence them.
On September 17, 2025, Jerry Greenfield resigned from the company he co-founded, writing in part in his letter:
What has made [employees] work so important to me—and what allowed the company to be more than just an ice cream company—was the independence to pursue our values which was guaranteed when Unilever bought the company.... It’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone.
And it’s happening at a time when our country’s current administration is attacking civil rights, voting rights, the rights of immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ community. Standing up for the values of justice, equity, and our shared humanity has never been more important—and yet Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power. It’s easy to stand up and speak out when there’s nothing at risk. The real test of values is when times are challenging and you have something to lose….
It was always about more than just ice cream; it was a way to spread love and invite others into the fight for equity, justice and a better world. Coming to the conclusion that this is no longer possible at Ben & Jerry’s means I can no longer remain part of Ben & Jerry’s. If I can’t carry those values forward inside the company today, then I will carry them forward outside—with all the love and conviction I can.
Greg Olear: “We Mustn’t Compare Them to Nazis” but the actual quotes from MAGA and Nazis tell a different story
Greg Olear, an American novelist, author and podcaster, posted a page on his Substack titled “We Mustn’t Compare Them to Nazis,” which he pulls together “A selection of transcriptions, excerpts, and quotations, presented without editorial comment.” The first selection is from Donald Trump’s video statement after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, in which he said, “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” and threatened to use the power of government to go after that “radical left.” Olear follows this with quotes from Kirk, Hitler, Tom Homan, Goebbels, Stephen Miller and other fascists. See Olear’s page here.
Daniel Hodges: I’m a DC police officer. Here’s what Trump’s takeover is really about.
Daniel Hodges is a Metropolitan Police Officer in Washington DC. He is speaking in this essay in his personal capacity. Hodges was filmed getting beaten and crushed while trying to keep insurrectionists out of the Capitol building. He writes in part:
I won’t be intimidated into silence about the failures and dangers posed to the country by the federal police takeover of the city. I will quit my job before I ever help Trump’s goons kidnap some random person for the crime of not being white enough.
And if I’m on duty and come across a group of masked, armed individuals with no visibly identifying markers of law enforcement attempting to force someone into an unmarked car, I will treat it as an armed kidnapping until the abductors are able to prove they have the legal authority to arrest someone.
Nothing is guaranteed in this world and recent history should firmly illustrate that includes our country and way of life. Law and order are vital to any civilization, but Trump has somehow managed to convince a fraction of the country he is working toward these goals while actually subverting the Constitution at every opportunity. Washington DC, by its nature, is the local government where the administration holds the most sway, and so we are the testing ground for Trump’s incursions into local control.
In response to Columbia University flying flag at half-staff for Charlie Kirk, Professor Howley said: "letting right-wing politics dictate the University's day-to-day operations"
Columbia University lowered its flags to half-staff following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, saying it was following Trump’s directives despite the fact the New York State, where Columbia is located, directed that flags be flown at full staff.
Columbia professor of classics Joseph Howley, one of the professors listed in Kirk’s hate list of “25 Professors to Watch” responded:
“There are, unfortunately, many tragic acts of violence that this university could recognize as such, like the assassination of Melissa [Hortman]*, that it apparently chooses not to,” Howley wrote in a statement to the Columbia Spectator. “For Columbia to voluntarily assist in lionizing someone who espoused hate towards so many members of our community, and put faculty like me on a public ‘watchlist’ for his followers to harass, does not give me confidence that our leadership has moved at all beyond the last two years of naked contempt for this community and letting right-wing politics dictate the University’s day-to-day operations,” Howley continued.
* Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota House Democratic leader, and her husband were assassinated on June 14. Trump did not order flags to be lowered following her death.
“No to Donald Trump. No to fascism. No to occupation. No to the National Guard.”
Memphis Democrats push back on Trump's law enforcement surge
Many voices have spoken out, in social media, in writing and in the streets, to protest the suspension of the Jimmy Kimmel show. Other outraged commentators can be see at: Stephen Colbert, "We are all Jimmy Kimmel."; "Jon Stewart's Post-Kimmel Primer on Free Speech in the Glorious Trump Era"; Conan O’Brian: "The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel and the promise to silence other Late Night hosts for criticizing the administration should disturb everyone on the Left, Right, and Center. It’s wrong, and everyone with a conscience knows it"; Mike Birbiglia; Rosie O’Donnell: "this is unacceptable - fuck this fascist administration and corrupt corporate executives - bowing to the orange monster - america is no more"; Kathy Griffin: "Please take it from me, it is very important to have Jimmy Kimmel’s back right now. Be vocal. Be an ideological consumer. Money is all their crowd cares about."
Mark Ruffalo: "It is the United States Government that is now suppressing freedom of speech!"
Mark Alan Ruffalo is an Emmy and Oscar-nominated American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter.
Mark Fiore
Pulitzer Prize winning animator: “Autocracy, anyone? Kimmel out, autocracy in..."
The following was posted on Substack by Mark Fiore, a Pulitzer Prize-winning political animator and satirist.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk has led to a new brand of McCarthyism — which is perfectly fitting, Kirk would just love what is going on right now.
The racist, misogynist, hateful white nationalist would be downright gleeful with the purge of university professors, teachers and even airline pilots going on right now.
Let’s all be clear about this: a white nationalist podcaster who regularly spewed hate and said gun deaths were acceptable in order to keep the Second Amendment was killed.
“I think it's worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”
He was assassinated, which is bad, immoral and counterproductive, of course.
But let’s criticize him instead of turning him into some kind of free-speech debating superstar who was on track to save America by talking to the other side just because he was shot while on a debate stage. (Looking at you, Ezra Klein.)
So now, Trump and crew think they have the perfect excuse to go after speech they don’t like as well as progressive nonprofits and foundations.
Margo Price: “Don’t let the bastards keep you down. Keep all the fascists underground.”
Margo Price is an American country singer-songwriter, known for her independent-minded, insurgent country music.
Margo Price performed on the Jimmy Kimmel show the night before the show was pulled and wrote “If this was the last word, I’m glad it was mine. “
Marc Maron: “This is the deciding moment. This is what it looks like….It’s time to act.”
Marc Maron is a comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician.
"It’s time to act. Organize, speak out, be peaceful, be urgent. It’s happening very fast."
Unite in Advance: Statement on Political Violence and the Fundamental Freedom of Speech
"Unite in Advance" is a solidarity campaign launched by a coalition of foundations and philanthropy leaders to defend their collective freedom to give to communities according to their values and missions, in response to perceived governmental threats and attacks against the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. The statement emphasized:
“Organizations should not be attacked for carrying out their missions or expressing their values in support of the communities they serve. We reject attempts to exploit political violence to mischaracterize our good work or restrict our fundamental freedoms, like freedom of speech and the freedom to give. Attempts to silence speech, criminalize opposing viewpoints, and misrepresent and limit charitable giving undermine our democracy and harm all Americans.”
“At a moment that is fragile and fraught, we must rise to the higher standard we all collectively desire. Now is a moment for leadership that drives unity rather than sows further division. Our organizations will continue focusing on helping people across all backgrounds, geographies, ideologies, and belief systems, to heal, thrive, and live peacefully together, protected by the freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution.”
Representative Maxwell Frost: “Fascism is not on the way... it is here.”
Frost, Democrat from Central Florida, was previously the national organizing director for March for Our Lives, formed in the wake of the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Singer Halsey posted to her Instagram stories:
"A gathering of artists, musicians and people for whom silence feels impossible."
Pro-Palestine concert at London’s Wembley Arena
Well-known actors and musicians gathered to raise funds for Gaza Wednesday, September 17. The event featured performances and appearances by Richard Gere, Florence Pugh, Damon Albarn, Jamie XX, Bastille, Hot Chip and many others. The concert was organized by British artist Brian Eno, who also performed. Photographer Nan Goldin said: “It’s always been the artist’s role in society to speak out, to risk speaking truth to power.” Author Michael Rosen added: “We know that the leaders of this country are complicit in the mass murder of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank”
Below, Benedict Cumberbatch reading a poem by legendary Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, “This Land There Are Reasons to Live."
End the Genocide in Gaza: A Public Letter from Jewish Health Professionals: "To be silent is to be complicit"
More than 400 Jewish health professionals signed an open letter on September 20 calling for an end to the genocide.
As Jewish professionals in medicine, public health, and related fields, we cannot remain silent in the face of a genocide being carried out against the Palestinians in Gaza by the state of Israel. Our tradition and training bind us to the defense of life and dignity. Too many of our colleagues and institutions have yet to dissent while an entire population, half of them children, has been starved, bombed, denied care, and displaced. To be silent is to be complicit....
The Jewish High Holidays call upon us to set out on the four Maimonidean levels of penance: Desisting from destructive deeds - immediate ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access; Regret - over the destruction we have been complicit with; Confession - listing the wanton destruction wrought in our name; and Resolution for the future - that we no longer will participate in the suffering we cause to another people. Therefore, we call on all our colleagues to join us and:
- Validate and uplift Palestinian narratives of their own destruction.
- Denounce the genocidal actions of the Israeli government
- Reject the weaponization of accusations of antisemitism to suppress criticism of Israel and expressions of solidarity with Palestinians.
- Call on medical associations, schools, and journals to break their silence: acknowledge the destruction of Gaza, publicly condemn the genocide, solicit and publish articles on Gaza, hold symposia, protect dissenting voices, and advocate for accountability of those complicit.
- Urge medical centers and institutions to contribute to the restoration of Gaza by providing medical supplies, training, volunteer options, and access to remote or onsite high level care to Gazans in-need.
Stand with us. Break the silence. Sign this letter.
Joint Response from JACL National and JACL Chicago Chapter Regarding Immigration Raids and Possible National Guard Deployment
The Japanese American Citizens League is a national organization whose ongoing mission is to secure and maintain the civil rights of Japanese Americans and all others who are victimized by injustice and bigotry. The leaders and members of the JACL also work to promote cultural, educational, and social values and preserve the heritage and legacy of the Japanese American community.
“…The Chicago chapter of the JACL urges the Nikkei community, in Chicagoland and beyond, to show up in this moment to protect immigrant rights and immigrant communities. Many JACL Chicago members have a family history of incarceration without due process during WWII. According to JACL Chicago program director Rebecca Ozaki, “My own grandfather shared the horrifying memory of how two FBI agents showed up to their home in 1942 and detained his father. They didn’t know where he was for months, and he didn’t see his father for years. Their family was separated when they were forced into incarceration camps. He was just a child, paralyzed from fear, and there was no one to protect his family or the 125,000 others of Japanese ancestry who were forced into prisons without due process during World War II.” JACL Chicago believes that no human should face this reality, regardless of citizenship status. We are proud that our city will continue to fight against racist immigrant detention and deportation to keep our people safe, even with the threat of a US president declaring “war” on our city, and urge the Nikkei community to join us to take action….”
Voices of Resistance September 9 to September 14, 2025
In Hannah Einbinder's Emmy acceptance speech for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, she said "Fuck ICE and Free Palestine!"
Banksy condemns British suppression of pro-Gaza demonstrators
Banksy is the street name for a widely-known, controversial, and revered British street artist, activist, and film director. A few days after the arrest by British authorities of almost 900 demonstrators who opposed the British government ban on the group Palestine Action, Banksy dropped a new piece on the wall of the Royal Courts of Justice building in Central London. The piece depicted a judge, with the traditional wig, beating a protester holding a sign and on the ground. Within a few hours the Court hid it behind barriers, and later scrubbed it. The scrubbed artwork was still visible however, and dramatically amplified the message.
Below right, the artwork. Left, after the artwork was scrubbed.
If RFK Jr. doesn’t resign, physicians should join a limited strike
It’s a nuclear option — but it may be necessary
Richard Kravitz is a professor of medicine at UC Davis. He wrote this op-ed on Sept. 12, 2025 in an online paper focused on health and medicine.
On behalf of the misleadingly named Make America Healthy Again movement, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has launched an undisciplined assault on biomedical science and public health: defunding research at the National Institutes of Health, canceling mRNA vaccine studies, purging dedicated government scientists, gutting the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and potentially the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, and trying to force millions off Medicaid. Kennedy’s recent actions have, in less than a year, substantially degraded the nation’s health security. The brouhaha between Kennedy and (now former) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez is just the latest scene in this unfolding horror flick.
Physicians committed to promoting human health within a scientific frame need to start considering responses that would ordinarily be off the table. Major medical societies like the American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American College of Physicians need to show some brio. If Kennedy does not resign by Oct. 19, the beginning of National Health Education Week, they should collectively declare a limited physicians’ strike….
To even consider temporarily withholding services from patients runs counter to physicians’ professionalization and may trigger some degree of moral distress.
But to paraphrase Hippocrates, desperate diseases demand desperate remedies. If Kennedy does not resign, if science funding is not restored, and if the government continues to place critical public health functions in the hands of the willfully ignorant, physicians need to act. A limited strike might be just what the doctor ordered.
Over 50 Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Issue Open Letter in Support of International Boycott Condemning Gaza War
More than 50 prominent Israeli documentary filmmakers have issued an open letter supporting a pledge signed by more than 4,000 international film industry professionals, directors, and actors in early September to boycott Israeli state-funded cultural institutions until Israel ends its assault on Gaza and occupation of Palestinian territories. The letter read in part:
We, a group of documentary filmmakers in Israel, feel profound shame, pain, daily torment, and helplessness in the face of the horrors of mass murder, destruction and internal transfer (for now), and starvation that the State of Israel is carrying out in our name in Gaza....
As documentary filmmakers who have dedicated their lives to recording different aspects of reality in our country, and some of us, especially to documenting the occupation, we are acutely aware of the importance of recognizing the truth as a first step toward changing reality. For this reason, we wholeheartedly support the global filmmakers’ boycott against us.
We grieve manifestations of denial, self-victimization, covert and overt complicity, and self-censorship that have also spread within our own ranks. For us, there is no comfort in the complex, sensitive, and critical films we have made over the years as part of our role and mission; they do not absolve us of responsibility for the atrocities carried out in our name.
We call on the international documentary community, our artistic home, to hold itself to the same standards and focus on its domestic role: resisting the silence and complicity of European and American governments in the massacre in Gaza. Our government thrives and gains audacity by the backing of Donald Trump, who also makes a point of neutralizing the protests of European leaders; without him, this accursed war could not have lasted so long.
We live in a reality of fracture. Israeli democracy remains strong, despite all the assaults upon it, but it has never been as fragile as now. The incitement and hatred between left and right in our society have never reached such extremes. Attempts at silencing and Intimidation are taking on violent dimensions.
We hope that along with the justified boycott against us, you will not forget the day after, which must come, and that you will not close the scroll on the positive potential within our society. We yearn for days when we can once again collaborate in fruitful creation.
Israeli Conductor Ilan Volkov: "In my heart there is great pain… I come from Israel and live there. I love it, it's my home. But what's happening is atrocious and horrific on a scale that's unimaginable."
Ilan Volkov, who has conducted orchestras all over the world, spoke with heart at the Royal Albert Hall in London after conducting a performance. He now says he will no longer perform in his home country in protest against the war in Gaza.
“Innocent Palestinians being killed in thousands, displaced again and again, without hospitals and schools, not knowing when the next meal [will come]. Israeli hostages are kept in terrible conditions for almost two years and political prisoners are languishing in Israeli jails.
“I ask you all to do whatever is in your power to stop this madness. Every little action counts while governments hesitate and wait. We cannot let this go on any longer, every moment that passes puts the safety of millions at risk. Thank you.”
George Mason University president refuses to apologize to Trump for backing diversity programs.
On Aug. 22, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced that George Mason University, led by President Gregory Washington, violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, not because he failed to follow the Act by preventing discrimination on the campus, but because he in fact acted positively to prevent it. The Department's outrageous remedy specifically targeted Washington, the first Black president of George Mason University, saying he had to issue a public personal apology on the University website.
Washington is one of the few University Presidents who has publicly resisted the Trump efforts to remake universities to support the fascism program. He has refused to apologize and defended his actions with fact-based arguments. In addition numerous statements of support have been issued. This included a statement from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), who wrote “Singling out a Black leader in this way is not only unprecedented but also deeply troubling.” Another came from James Finkelstein, a leading authority on hiring of university presidents…
President Washington issued a statement to the faculty in response to an article in the Washington Post. His statement said in part:
"I will continue to defend every faculty member’s right to speak, think, research, and teach freely, unfettered by ideological threats or intimidation. It’s one aspect of our campus that truly makes it special."
Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández Speaks out Against Trump and ICE: 'This Is Racism That Goes Hand In Hand With Fascism'
On the floor of the House of Representatives on September 8, 2025, Fernández made the following statement:
Mr. Speaker, I’m Latina, I’m a citizen and I speak Spanish. My family has been in New Mexico for 17 generations. Today, ICE can now detain me if they hear me talking to mis tías in something like:
[Begins speaking in Spanish] "Today, the Supreme Court put all Latinos in danger of being detained by ICE. They were given permission to detain anyone who looks Latino, speaks with a Spanish accent or has a humble job, instead of protecting their people. This government has just condemned millions of Latinos to live in fear. We will see more parents handcuffed in front of their children and workers detained while harvesting our food. Now we have to carry our passports as if being Latino is a crime. This is racism that goes hand in hand with fascism.
[Switches to English] In my America, we all belong. In Trump’s America, we do not.
In the New York Review of Books, editor Daniel Drake interviewed Walter M Shaub, Jr.
After many years as a government lawyer, in 2013 Shaub was appointed director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) by President Obama. He resigned several months into Trump’s first term, telling NPR that “the current situation has made it clear that the ethics program needs to be stronger than it is.”... Last month I wrote to Shaub to ask him about what if any safeguards are left to check Trump’s abuses of power, the office culture at the OGE, and Han Solo.
Walter M. Shaub Jr.: The only things separating Donald Trump from the twentieth century’s fascist leaders are time and opportunity. We’re running out of the former, and his administration is working hard to create the latter. He has torn out almost all of the executive branch’s guardrails, leaving only the patriotism of whichever remaining career federal employees are willing to refuse unlawful orders at the risk of their livelihoods and, if their names make it into the alt-right social media cesspool, their families’ safety. The legislative branch, meanwhile, is run by Trump’s vassals, who refuse to conduct any oversight of his administration or enact laws to curb his abuses. The judiciary is the last edifice standing, and its crumbling foundation won’t long hold.
The lower courts in some federal circuits are holding up fairly well, but all legal roads lead to the Supreme Court’s supermajority of conservative justices. There, politicians in robes increasingly appear to have given up even the pretense of practicing law, shifting interpretive approaches from case to case as needed in order to achieve their desired outcomes. In one dissent, Justice Elena Kagan charged that the “majority’s opinion mostly inhabits a law-free zone.”
All anyone really needs to know, however, is that the right has abandoned its purportedly devout fidelity to the Constitution’s text by inventing, in Trump v. United States, a new form of presidential immunity that is nowhere to be found in the “framers’ intent.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent explained that the ruling—which held that the president “may not be prosecuted for exercising [core constitutional powers]”—would insulate presidents from accountability for any number of crimes: “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”…
All of this is nothing compared to what’s coming once Trump fully solidifies his control of the executive branch’s arsenal. Thus far, for instance, he has not yet ordered the military to conduct law enforcement arrests; attempted to adjourn Congress; withheld disaster relief from states he lost in the 2024 election; arrested members of Congress, federal judges, or governors; used an emergency power to shut down or seize control of a “facility or station for wire communication,” which arguably includes Internet servers; preemptively promised pardons to federal officials or militias willing to carry out violent crimes for him; openly violated laws prohibiting military involvement in elections; or used his newfound immunity to “disappear” political opponents.
But these kinds of totalitarian exercises of power are dangerously within his grasp. Just this week, on the president’s orders, the US military bombed a boat full of people in the Caribbean. Trump claims that they were drug smugglers—“Narco terrorists,” in his words—but has so far offered no evidence to support that claim. Nor has the administration explained which legal authority authorizes the summary execution of suspected smugglers in international waters. The killings are reminiscent of the bloody war on drugs waged by the former president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte, who once said, by way of explaining his method of fighting what he considered criminality and corruption, “If I have to kill you, I will kill you personally.”...
‘This is fascism’: Millsaps professor says he was fired for email commenting on presidential election
James Bowley, who was a Millsaps College professor in Jackson, Mississippi, says he was fired by Millsaps Interim Provost Stephanie Rolph, more than two months after he sent an email to students saying he was canceling a class to “mourn and process this racist and fascist country” following Donald Trump’s re-election.
“Millsaps now has an administration that censors its faculty, so much so that it will fire someone if they disagree with their message,” he said. “It’s really sad because this is supposed to be a place of academic freedom where people can speak out,” he said. “This is fascism... exactly what fascism is.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has taken up Bowley’s case, calling on Bowley to be reinstated. Hundreds of students, Millsaps alum, and others have signed petitions seeking his reinstatement. Bowley says the Faculty Grievance Committee also is backing him.
4,000 scientists, including Nobel laureates, issue statement urging to “halt tragedy” in Gaza
August 21, 2025
We, the undersigned, are scientists from around the world writing in our personal capacity as deeply concerned citizens. We are deeply distressed by the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We find it unbearable that an artificial shortage of food appears to be leading to a famine-like situation. We are shocked by the enforced denial of medical facilities, the absence of even a modicum of education for children, the systematic annihilation of civil infrastructure (including universities), and the apparent general disregard for the rights, well-being, and life of the civilian population of Gaza.
We call upon the Government of Israel to act immediately to end this human-made humanitarian crisis....
The humanitarian emergency demands immediate intervention. As scientists working collectively for humanity, we urgently call upon all governments, and all relevant international institutions around the world, to exert all available means so there is a halt to this tragedy.
Cinema Figures Pledge to End Complicity
More than 4,000 filmmakers, actors and industry professionals have signed a pledge not to work with certain Israeli film institutions. The pledge says:
As filmmakers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we recognize the power of cinema to shape perceptions. In this urgent moment of crisis, where many of our governments are enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to address complicity in that unrelenting horror.
The world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, has ruled that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza, and that Israel’s occupation and apartheid against Palestinians are unlawful. Standing for equality, justice, and freedom for all people is a profound moral duty that none of us can ignore. So too, we must speak out now against the harm done to the Palestinian people.
We answer the call of Palestinian filmmakers, who have urged the international film industry to refuse silence, racism, and dehumanization, as well as to 'do everything humanly possible' to end complicity in their oppression.
Inspired by Filmmakers United Against Apartheid who refused to screen their films in apartheid South Africa, we pledge not to screen films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions—including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies—that are implicated* in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.
Global Jews for Palestine: Statement in support of the Flotilla
September 9th, 2025
We support the Global Sumud Flotilla
And we condemn Israel’s drone attack on a flotilla boat near a Tunis port, thus extending its terrorist attacks from Gaza to international solidarity.
Global Jews for Palestine (GJP) welcomes and supports the Global Sumud Flotilla, which challenges the Israeli regime’s blockade of Gaza by bringing desperately needed aid in an attempt to break the siege. As the organizers stated, ‘Each boat represents a community and a refusal to stay silent in the face of genocide.’ The flotilla highlights Israel’s collective punishment as well as genocide against Palestinians. The term ‘Sumud’ symbolises their steadfast resistance, as well as the persistence of the global solidarity movement.
The flotilla has become necessary because Western governments continue their long-time collusion with Israel’s colonization and ongoing genocide. As means to placate domestic protest and divert attention from their complicity, those governments have belatedly, weakly criticised Israel’s actions, especially its blockade creating a live-streamed mass starvation.
But their deceptive roles are being exposed and contested. As the Flotilla organizers say, ‘We are mobilizing more than 44 countries on simultaneous demonstrations and actions to break complicity’.
We call on all people of conscience to:
* support the Global Sumud Flotilla;
* support all efforts to end the Gaza siege, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and international complicity with the Israeli regime.
We are Jews from many countries, who are members of local, national and international networks and organizations. We are multi-ethnic and multigenerational and our members embrace a broad range of viewpoints on Jewish religious and ethical traditions. We are connected by our involvement in the struggle for Palestinian rights, and by our determination to work for justice. We oppose Zionism and all forms of racism and colonialism.
We believe that it is our particular responsibility to challenge Jewish organizations whose alliances and actions undermine Palestinian human and national rights, promote Jewish exceptionalism, and overturn Jewish social justice traditions. At the heart of our work is the fight for Palestinian liberation and the struggle for a world free of racial and ethnic hierarchy, colonial domination, and unbridled militarism.
Understanding the history that led to the genocide in Gaza
The film Palestine 36 by director Annemarie Jacir, was released this week at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film depicts the Great Arab Revolt against British Mandate policies and rising Jewish immigration in 1936, and draws out the history of the Palestinian people. Jeremy Irons, who plays the role of the British High Commissioner in the film, spoke out about the importance of the film:
“To be able to understand….this genocide, we have to know the history of it, to understand the Palestinian people and what they’ve been faced with since, not only 1948, or 1936, but 1890. I think this film goes a long way toward being able to do that.”