by Joe Courter
I had a profound moment at the C&G Farmers Market recently. A woman I know came up to me and, with sad eyes, said her partner had deported himself out of immigration fears. A bit stunned, I reflexively made a lame comment that referred to the recent abduction of a Gainesville family, like “well it is happening all over,” but my mind was reeling as I saw her walking away; that was so inadequate!
That same day I’d seen the press conference from Austin, Texas where a Door Dash driver had been shot by ICE and was now in custody — a bullet still lodged in his back. The two situations collided in my brain: it is all horrible — on every level — that this is happening. Loving couples and families are put into pain and stress because of this fascist policy driven in an authoritarian coup, being perpetrated on our nation.
I guess I, like many, have been sheltered from seeing those pained eyes in front of me, not just on a screen. We tend to think it is not real until it is someone you know. Well, folks, it is real.
As is happening around the country, those who have seen those eyes have stepped into action doing support work, helping neighbors and community members weathering the storm in cities everywhere. Now ICE has kind of moved more low key, but the abductions continue, here and elsewhere, and so have the valiant attempts to resist and mitigate the damage to our social fabric.
There is great work being done here by the Rural Women’s Health Project, various churches, and others, but it is all Band-Aids. How will it end? How do we turn it around? What can feed our hope to keep resisting?
I had some of that hope generated last week while watching speeches from the UN General Assembly annual meeting. This nation, and this leader we have, are such outliers on the world stage. Lula from Brazil, Sanchez from Spain, Burnham from England, Macron from France: they and so many others are worth hearing addressing international cooperation, ending conflicts, raising people out of poverty and starvation. The speeches are each about 20 minutes long — go find them. People around the world are all watching the same horror played out here as the world order is being disrupted by our MAGA occupied country.
Those hopes I’d gotten got dashed a bit upon reading a piece from Tariq Ali on his substack <https://tariqali1943.substack.com>, pointing out how impotent the UN is currently, and how the very design of the UN, however well intended coming out of WWII, was seriously flawed with the Security Council members each able to veto anything substantially altering the existing power arrangement. But that flaw was also pointed out by a number of leaders who spoke — both to expand the Council and get rid of the veto. Perhaps some backbone growing reforms are possible there?
It IS hopeful that the pattern of growing authoritarianism is obvious once you start recognizing it — we just need to do better at helping people see it and build resistance to it. Historian Timothy Snyder is a great resource for this: he is an author of books, writes a regular Substack, and does many interviews. Find him on YouTube.
I just read both Gil Durán’s “The Nerd Reich” and Naomi Klein’s and Astra Taylor’s “End Times Fascism,” new books on the top of the best seller list (I’m a masochist). Find the books or YouTube interviews with either or both authors. What we are heading into with the rise of giant tech money and power, combined with the cult of Christian nationalism, is a massive challenge to our democracy. We need an overwhelming rejection of the Trump agenda and its enablers this election. The vote is the peoples’ power; that is why these rich authoritarians make it harder and harder for us to do it. The Democrats are not ideal, but in this case, vote blue all the way. It is the system we have, voting is math and we need to try and maximize what it gives us. So please get your ballot in and encourage all in your world to vote, too. The need for it is beyond real, it is an imperative.