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#characteristicsoffascism

4 posts3 participants0 posts today

Private groups work to identify and report #StudentProtesters for possible #deportation

“Now they’re using tools of the state to actually go after people,” said a Columbia graduate student from South Asia who has been active in protests and spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns about losing her visa. “We suddenly feel like we’re being forced to think about our survival.”

By ADAM GELLER, March 29, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — "When a protester was caught on video in January at a New York rally against Israel, only her eyes were visible between a mask and headscarf. But days later, photos of her entire face, along with her name and employer, were circulated online.

"'Months of them hiding their faces went down the drain!' a fledgling technology company boasted in a social media post, claiming its #FacialRecognition tool had identified the woman despite the coverings.

"She was anything but a lone target. The same software was also used to review images taken during months of #ProPalestinian marches at U.S. colleges. A #RightWingJewish group said some people identified with the tool were on a list of names it submitted to President Donald #Trump’s administration, urging that they be deported in accordance with his call for the expulsion of foreign students who participated in 'pro-jihadist' protests.

"Other #ProIsrael groups have enlisted help from supporters on campuses, urging them to report foreign students who participated in protests against the war in #Gaza to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency."

Read more:
apnews.com/article/trump-forei
#ICERaids #ICEDetentions #ICEArrests #SilencingDissent #USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #MahmoudKhalil #RumeysaOzturk, #YunseoChung #BadarKhunSuri #MomodouTaal #ResistICE #Fascism #Project2025 #ProjectEsther #Authoritarianism #TurdReich

#Trump takes aim at foreign-born college students, with 300 visas revoked

Some students have been picked up off the street by immigration agents and held in detention centers, sometimes a thousand miles away from their homes, with little warning

By Daniella Silva, Chloe Atkins, Julia Ainsley and Abigail Williams, March 27, 2025

"Secretary of State #MarcoRubio said Thursday the State Department has revoked 300 or more #StudentVisas, as the White House increasingly targets foreign-born students whose main transgression seems to be #activism.

"Rubio warned that the administration was looking out for 'these lunatics.' Around the country, #scholars have been picked up, in some cases by masked immigration agents, and held in #DetentionCenters, sometimes a thousand miles from their homes with little warning and often with few details about why they were being detained.

"'It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,' Rubio said at a news conference in Guyana, where he was meeting with leaders.

"Many of those rounded up by Trump officials attended or were part of the pro-Palestinian movement that swept college campuses last year, and while the administration hasn’t said publicly why these students are being singled out over others, at least one sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appeared on lists made by far-right pro-Israel groups as targets for deportation.

"And Trump allies, many in government again, telegraphed for months before he took office that they’d seek to deport students who openly advocated for Hamas or other U.S.-designated terrorist groups or after they participated in an unauthorized campus #protest and were suspended, expelled or jailed.

"The detentions are a signal of a broader effort by President Donald Trump to clamp down on the actions of legal permanent residents, student visa holders and others who live and work legally in the United States, one that threatens to undermine a fundamental American right to #FreeSpeech and to assemble, experts and advocates said."

nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump
#USPol #ThoughtPolice #Authoritarianism #Orwellian #CharacteristicsOfFascism #Clampdown #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingActivism #RightToAssemble #FirstAmendment #USPol

NBC News · Rubio says State Department has revoked at least 300 student visasBy Daniella Silva

#LawrenceBritt #CharacteristicsOfFascism Numbers 1 and 11...

1. Powerful and Continuing #Nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of #patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. #Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

11. Disdain for #Intellectuals and the #Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to #HigherEducation and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other #academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

Trump targets 'anti-American ideology' at Smithsonian museums

by Max Matza, 3/27/2025

"US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution, which operates more than 20 museums and research centres visited by millions yearly in Washington DC and New York City.

"The order directs the vice-president to 'eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology' from the institute's museums, centres and the National Zoo in Washington.

"It also directs the interior secretary to restore federal properties, including parks, memorials and statues, which 'have been improperly removed or changed in the last five years to perpetuate a false revision of history'.

"The move is part of Trump's effort to shape American culture, in addition to politics."

Read more:
bbc.com/news/articles/cdjy1jmv
#ChristoFascism #ChristianRight #USPol #Fascism #Authoritarianism #Fascists #TurdReich

An overhead view of buildings in Washington DC. There is snow on the ground
www.bbc.comTrump targets 'anti-American ideology' at Smithsonian museumsThe order says that "divisive narratives" must be purged from the US museums and research centres.

#DHS detains grad student who advocated for #Palestine and the "humanity of all people"

#RumeysaOzturk, a student at #TuftsUniversity, drew the attention of a pro-Israel group for co-authoring an op-ed

By Charles R. Davis
Published March 26, 2025 10:01AM Updated March 26, 2025 5:27PM (EDT)

"The Trump administration has detained a Tufts University graduate student exactly one year after she coauthored a plea for 'the equal dignity and #humanity of all people,' including Palestinians.

"Rumeysa Ozturk, a native of Turkey, was 'ambushed' late Tuesday outside her apartment, according to a statement that her attorney provided to The Boston Globe. Neighbors had seen agents in #UnmarkedCars monitoring her apartment for two days prior to the arrest, the outlet reported.

"'Her arrest comes after the #ProIsrael group #CanaryMission flagged Ozturk for having 'engaged in anti-Israel activism in March 2024.'"

Read more:
salon.com/2025/03/26/dhs-detai
#BostonMA #Orwellian #Authoritarianism #CharacteristicsOfFascism

Salon · DHS detains grad student who advocated for Palestine and the "humanity of all people"Rumeysa Ozturk, a student at Tufts University, drew the attention of a pro-Israel group for co-auhtoring an op-ed

#CharacteristicsOfFascism 14. #FraudulentElections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by #SmearCampaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control #voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

#Trump signs order seeking to overhaul US elections, including requiring proof of #citizenship

By ALI SWENSON and CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY, March 25, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — "President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive action to overhaul elections in the U.S., including requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and demanding that all ballots be received by Election Day.

"The order says the U.S. has failed 'to enforce basic and necessary election protections' and calls on states to work with federal agencies to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes. It threatens to pull federal funding from states where election officials don’t comply."

Read more:
apnews.com/article/voting-elec
#Authoritarianism #BullyInChief
#ElectionBarriers #Fascism #Fascist #USPol

#USTaxpayer Dollars spent on what?!!

#KristiNoem Says $200 Million #DHS Ad Campaign Thanking #Trump Was His Idea

Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary said he instructed her to make ads that “thank me for closing the border”

By Andrew Perez, Asawin Suebsaeng
February 21, 2025

"The ad campaign amounts to an extremely expensive taxpayer-funded propaganda blitz to scare off #migrants and to flatter Trump on television. On Friday, Trump’s DHS secretary entertained the #CPAC high-roller audience with her account of how Trump orchestrated the whole thing."

Original article:
rollingstone.com/politics/poli

Archived version:
archive.ph/wYe1Y
#KingTrump #KillThePoor #CharacteristicsOfFascism #Tyranny #USPol #NoMoreKings! #DepartmentOfHomelandSecurity

Kristi Noem stands in front of President Donald Trump during the signing ceremony for the Laken Riley Act on Jan. 29, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Rolling Stone · Kristi Noem Says $200 Million DHS Ad Campaign Thanking Trump Was His IdeaBy Andrew Perez

#Teachers sue #Trump admin for stopping affordable #StudentLoan repayment plans

The American Federation of Teachers represents 1.8 million educators.

By Leah Sarnoff, March 19, 2025

"One of America's largest unions is taking aim at President Donald Trump's administration for shutting down access to affordable student loan repayment plans -- saying the decision is 'effectively breaking' the system.

"The American Federation of Teachers (#AFT), representing 1.8 million educators across the country, filed a lawsuit against the #DepartmentOfEducation in Washington, D.C., hoping to restore the programs that have now been shuttered for three weeks.

"The filing alleges the administration halting the application process for all Income-Driven Repayment (#IDR) plans and ordering student loan servicers to stop all processing violates #FederalLaw.

"AFT sued the United States Department of Education (ED) for effectively breaking the student loan system, denying borrowers' access to affordable loan payments and blocking progress towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness (#PSLF), in violation of federal law,' the union said in a statement Wednesday."

abcnews.go.com/Politics/teache
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #BadDOGE #ResistDOGE #Authoritarianism #USPol

ABC News · Teachers sue Trump admin for stopping affordable student loan repayment plansBy Leah Sarnoff

#Trump signs order gutting #DepartmentOfEducation

Trump signed the order in a ceremony while flanked by schoolchildren.

By Katherine Faulders, Rachel Scott, and Arthur Jones II
March 20, 2025

"By dismantling ED, President Trump is implementing his own philosophy on education which can be summed up in his own words, 'I love the poorly educated,'" - Bobby Scott, D-Va.

abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #BadDOGE #ResistDOGE #Authoritarianism #USPol

ABC News · Trump signs order gutting Department of Education while surrounded by kidsBy Katherine Faulders

Chilling
The #Trump #regime will arrest some of you in the middle of the night because you spoke your mind

Robert Reich, Mar 11, 2025

"Friends,

"One of the purposes of 'flooding the zone,' as the Trump regime is trying to do — shocking and awing us with its blitzkrieg of bonkers orders — is to make it almost impossible to sort out what we should be incredibly freaked out about from what we should merely freak out about.

"I’m incredibly freaked out about the regime grabbing people from their homes who are legally in the United States, with permanent status — not just visas permitting them to work or study here but green cards — and then whisking them away to prison because they’ve engaged in constitutionally protected speech that the regime doesn’t like.

"You think I’m exaggerating? This is exactly what happened to #MahmoudKhalil on Saturday night. Khalil, who graduated from #Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December, has a green card. His wife, who is eight months pregnant, is an American citizen.

"Immigration agents appeared at his apartment building and told him he was being detained. He now appears to be in a detention facility in Louisiana.

"Khalil did nothing illegal. He has not been charged with a crime. He expressed his political point of view — peacefully, non-violently, non-threateningly. That’s supposed to be permitted — dare I say even encouraged? — in a #democracy.

"So why is he in jail?

"#Khalil was one of the leaders of last year’s peaceful pro-#Palestinian #protests at #ColumbiaUniversity.

"In a post on Truth Social, Trump conceded Khalil was snatched up and sent off because of his politics. 'This is the first arrest of many to come,' wrote Trump. 'We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.'"

Read more:
robertreich.substack.com/p/the
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #FloodingTheZone #ShockAndAwe #FirstAmendment #USPol #Fascism #Authoritarianism #FreeSpeech #FreePalestine #RightToProtest #Censorship

Robert Reich · The Trump regime will arrest some of you in the middle of the night because you spoke your mindBy Robert Reich

#ElonMusk and Texas governor celebrate firing of worker over pronouns in email signature

Billionaire #Trump ally and #GregAbbot tweet about Frank Zamora, who was let go after refusing to remove pronouns

“However, we have chosen to make them a politicized topic and a hot-button issue. I felt that this order was strictly passed down to appease a certain political movement, and that it was strictly done, essentially, to win a culture war. And I do not believe that the #LGBTQ+ community – trans individuals, non-binary, intersex or any individuals who choose to display their preferred pronouns – deserve to be made political collateral or to be put on the chopping block.”

by Erum Salam, Thu 6 Mar 2025 14.03 EST

"The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, and, later, Elon Musk showed support on Wednesday for the firing of a state employee who refused to remove his pronouns from his work email signature.

"#FrankZamora, 31, was let go from his job as a program manager at the Texas real estate commission (TREC) last month because he refused to comply with a mandate from the organisation to employees to remove gender pronouns from email signatures.

"'I actually anticipated this coming, just because we knew that many changes that were being made at the federal level were being mimicked at the state level,' Zamora said.

"Abbott celebrated the move on X, sharing a report from the Austin American-Statesman on the firing and writing: 'A Texas state employee refused to remove pronouns from email signature. He was fired before noon.'"

Read more:
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m
#TransRightsAreHumanRights #WeExist #NonBinary #Fascism #ResistFascism #Resistance #ChristoFascists #CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol

The Guardian · Elon Musk and Texas governor celebrate firing of worker over pronouns in email signatureBy Erum Salam

I imagine that #WomensStudies, #GenderStudies, #NativeAmericanStudies, and other history / anthropology studies will be next on the chopping block. #BlackHistory already is!

New York's governor orders college to remove #PalestinianStudies job listing

February 28, 2025

"The job posting at Hunter College had called for a historian 'who takes a critical lens to issues pertaining to Palestine including but not limited to #SettlerColonialism, #genocide, #HumanRights, #apartheid, #migration, #climate and #infrastructure devastation, health, race, #gender, and sexuality,' according to screenshots published by the New York Post, which first reported the job announcement."

apnews.com/article/hochul-pale
#Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism #SignsOfFascism #Resist #ResistFascism #Censorship #Universities #HigherEducation #DumbingUsDown #DenyingHistory #DenyingReality

[Thread] So, what's on my mind tonight? A lot of things, but especially the topic of #Sterilization -- both voluntary and involuntary. As we slide further into #Fascism, control over womens' bodies and #ReproductiveRights are becoming moot points -- as some in #Trump's administration are calling for #ForcedSterilization of certain people, and yet, hypocritically, #MAGA types are making #DeathThreats against women who chose sterilization. This is beyond messed up, but par for the course for Fascism. [See #CharacteristicsOfFascism Number 5: Rampant #Sexism -- #LawrenceBritt]. Read on...
#USPol

#UmbertoEco’s List of the 14 Common Features of #Fascism

in History, Literature, Politics | November 1st, 2024

"While Eco is firm in claiming “There was only one Nazism,” he says, “the fascist game can be played in many forms, and the name of the game does not change.” Eco reduces the qualities of what he calls “Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism” down to 14 “typical” features. “These features,” writes the novelist and semiotician, “cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism. But it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it.”

1. The cult of tradition. “One has only to look at the syllabus of every fascist movement to find the major traditionalist thinkers. The Nazi gnosis was nourished by traditionalist, syncretistic, occult elements.”
2. The rejection of modernism. “The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.”
3. The cult of action for action’s sake. “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”
4. Disagreement is treason. “The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge.”
5. Fear of difference. “The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.”
6. Appeal to social frustration. “One of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups.”
7. The obsession with a plot. “Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged.”
8. The enemy is both strong and weak. “By a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”
9. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. “For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.”
10. Contempt for the weak. “Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology.”
11. Everybody is educated to become a hero. “In Ur-Fascist ideology, heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death.”
12. Machismo and weaponry. “Machismo implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality.”
13. Selective populism. “There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.”
14. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.”

openculture.com/2024/11/umbert
#DoublePlusUngood #Authoritarianism #Project2025 #TechnoFacism #January6 #CharacteristicsOfFascism #MAGA #ChristoFascism #ChristianCoalition
#ChristianNationalism
#AntiGBLTQLegislation #PressFreedom #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #StopHR9495

Open CultureUmberto Eco’s List of the 14 Common Features of FascismCreative Commons image by Rob Bogaerts, via the National Archives in Holland One of the key questions facing both journalists and loyal oppositions these days is how do we stay honest as euphemisms and trivializations take over the discourse?

"Boulos is connected to the #Trump family through marriage. Tiffany Trump married Boulos' son Michael in 2022."

#CharacteristicsOfFascism number 13. "Rampant #Cronyism and #Corruption
"Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders."

msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tr

www.msn.comMSN

#Florida officials report hundreds of books removed from schools

#Beloved by #ToniMorrison, #NormalPeople by #SallyRooney and #SlaughterhouseFive by #KurtVonnegut, among books pulled

by Coral Murphy Marcos
Tue 12 Nov 2024 23.10 EST

"Florida’s department of education has released a list of more than 700 books that were 'removed or discontinued' from schools across the state after changes to a state law last year that allows parents and residents to challenge the content of #LibraryBooks.

"This year’s list, which has doubled in size from last year, includes titles such as Beloved by Toni Morrison, Normal People by Sally Rooney, and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

"The list comes after #HouseBill1069 went into effect last July, requiring school districts to set up a mechanism for parents to object to anything they consider pornographic or inappropriate.

"Since then hundreds of titles have been removed from elementary, middle and high school libraries. In Florida, 33 out of about 70 school districts #BannedBooks.

"American classics such as #BraveNewWorld by #AldousHuxley, #ForWhomTheBellTolls by #ErnestHemingway and The Adventures of #TomSawyer by #MarkTwain are among those that have been pulled. Contemporary novels by bestselling authors such as #MargaretAtwood and #StephenKing have also been removed.

"Members of the #FloridaFreedomToReadProject, a group comprised of public school parents, said the measure has led to an unprecedented rise in #censorship, mostly driven by conservative interest groups, and has limited students’ access to diverse #literature.

“'We believe in a fair, thorough, and public objection process that ensures decisions reflect the needs of each school community - not the broad, district-wide censorship we see today that’s inspired by the vague language in #HB1069 and ‘bad book’ lists like this one,' the group said in a statement.

“'Censorship is happening right here in Florida. Lists like this that include award-winning, #ClassicLiterature and books about #BanningBooks cannot be spun or shoved into a narrative about extremely targeted removals,' they added.

"#PENAmerica found that Florida and #Iowa recorded the highest number of book bans during the 2023-2024 school year, leading in the country with over 4,500 book bans in Florida and over 3,600 in Iowa. These bans have cost districts about $34,000 to $135,000 a year.

"A study on educational censorship in Florida found a 'climate of compliance, fear and stress' that threatens students’ academic performance and the well-being of both teachers and students'."

Read more:
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/n

The Guardian · Florida officials report hundreds of books removed from schoolsBy Coral Murphy Marcos

#Ohio offers a new way to use public money for #ChristianSchools. Opponents say it’s unconstitutional

By JULIE CARR SMYTH
Updated 12:09 AM EST, November 17, 2024

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — "Around the country, advocates for Christian education have been finding legal ways to tap #taxpayer money used more typically for #PublicSchools. One new approach in Ohio is benefiting schools tied to a burgeoning #conservative political group and facing objections from defenders of the #SeparationOfChurchAndState.

"In President-elect Donald #Trump, backers of school choice have gained an ally in their efforts to share taxpayer money with families to pay for things like private school tuition. Trump has cast school choice as a way to counter what he calls leftist indoctrination in public classrooms and is expected to seek a boost for the movement at the federal level.

"The Ohio case shows how governments can push the envelope to funnel money to private schools.

"The state has put a small part of its budget surplus toward competitive grants for expanding and renovating #ReligiousSchools. Most of the winning construction projects are associated with the #CenterForChristianVirtue, an Ohio-based advocacy group that’s seen its revenues balloon amid the state’s push to expand religious educational options. "

Read more:apnews.com/article/christian-p

#ChristoFascism #ChristianCoalition
#ChristianNationalism
#Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism

#HouseGOP Working to Push Through Bill That Would Let #Trump Shut Down #Nonprofits

#DemocracyNow, November 18, 2024

"On Capitol Hill, House #Republicans [and some #Democrats] are attempting once again to ram through #HR9495, a bill that would allow Trump and future presidents to effectively shut down nonprofits by labeling them a '#terrorist-supporting organization.' The measure could target #HumanitarianAid groups, #news outlets, #schools and countless #CivilSociety organizations. #Congress failed to fast-track the bill last week, falling short of a required two-thirds majority despite dozens of Democrats voting in favor along with Republicans. But the next vote, which could happen this week, would likely only require a simple majority.

"A coalition of groups said in a statement, 'This bill was designed to #criminalize organizations and #activists who oppose the U.S.'s unconditional support of #Israel's #genocide of #Palestinians and the slaughter of #LebaneseCivilians.' Signatories to the statement included the Council on American-Islamic Relations and #AmericanMuslimsForPalestine. #Oxfam criticized the bill, saying Trump could use it to silence and censor critics, curb free speech and target political opponents."

democracynow.org/2024/11/18/he

#StopHR9495 #USCongress #CrimininalizingDissent #FirstAmendment #WaterProtectors #Protestors #Activists #FreedomOfExpression #PressFreedom #USPolitics #SilencingDissent #FreePalestine #StudentProtestors #FreeSpeech #Clampdown #StopHR9495
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #Fascism
#Authoritarianism #ProjectEsther #Project2025 #NDAA #Authoritarianism

Democracy Now!House GOP Working to Push Through Bill That Would Let Trump Shut Down NonprofitsOn Capitol Hill, House Republicans are attempting once again to ram through H.R. 9495, a bill that would allow Trump and future presidents to effectively shut down nonprofits by labeling them a “terrorist-supporting organization.” The measure could target humanitarian aid groups, news outlets, schools and countless civil society organizations. Congress failed to fast-track the bill last week, falling short of a required two-thirds majority despite dozens of Democrats voting in favor along with Republicans. But the next vote, which could happen this week, would likely only require a simple majority. A coalition of groups said in a statement, “This bill was designed to criminalize organizations and activists who oppose the U.S.'s unconditional support of Israel's genocide of Palestinians and the slaughter of Lebanese civilians.” Signatories to the statement included the Council on American-Islamic Relations and American Muslims for Palestine. Oxfam criticized the bill, saying Trump could use it to silence and censor critics, curb free speech and target political opponents.

The Plan to Silence Dissent
Building off a bipartisan push to punish pro-#Palestine protesters, #Trump has a broad crackdown ready to implement—including deportations.

by Sophie Hurwitz
November 15, 2024

"Donald Trump has made it clear that there are groups he’d like to punish.

"Much attention has been paid to the president-elect’s planned crusades for his next term against #immigrants and #transgender people. But less discussed has been another group on the list: #protesters. Building off the bipartisan crackdown on #AntiWar student dissent last year, Trump has made clear he hopes to discipline, and potentially prosecute, #CivilDisobedience with increased force.

"In May, he promised a group of donors that 'any student that protests, I [will] throw them out of the country.' Trump hoped this would serve as a warning. 'You know, there are a lot of foreign students,” he continued. “As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave.”

"This is more than just bluster. Reuters reported that sources said Trump hopes to follow through on the promise on day one of his administration, by signing an executive order prioritizing deporting 'international students who support Palestinian militant group Hamas and have violated the terms of their student visas.'

"In Trump’s first term, 'his instincts were to bring as much federal power as he could to bear on essentially peaceful protests,' Jamie Kalven, founder of Chicago’s Invisible Institute and a journalist who has studied First Amendment law for decades, told me. This time, there will be fewer guardrails. 'It was complicated enough before Trump was elected. Now you’re going to have various #demagogues in Congress and the Trump administration actually bearing down in various ways on universities and on university students, seeing it as the bastion of the #EnemyWithin.'

"Given how it’s been under #Biden, it unfortunately normalizes what Trump is then allowed to do.

"Many of the plans for targeting protesters are taken from tactics employed by Democrats in recent years. For years, #PalestinianRights activists in the US—and Palestinians in the US, whether activists or not—have often been smeared as terrorists and threatened with deportation and imprisonment. In 2023, a wave of protest was met with a #crackdown. The Department of Education pressured schools to stop pro-Palestine student organizing, as Mother Jones reported in September. Dozens of universities across the nation instituted strict new disciplinary codes prohibiting many forms of public assembly. Over 3,600 protesters were arrested."

Read more:
motherjones.com/politics/2024/

Mother JonesHow Trump plans to silence dissentBuilding off a bipartisan push to punish pro-Palestine protesters, Trump has a broad crackdown ready to implement—including deportations.

From 2019: Criminalization of #HumanRights Defenders of #IndigenousPeoples Resisting #ExtractiveIndustries in the United States

Report to the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights

Prepared by the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law, Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program on behalf of the Water Protector Legal Collective

6/24/2019

Introduction

1. Peaceful demonstrations are a catalyst for the advancement of human rights. Yet around the world governments are criminalizing dissent and suppressing public #protest, often as a means to protect #CorporateInterests. In this context, indigenous peoples increasingly find themselves as the subjects of arrests, criminal prosecution and police violence when defending the lands they rely upon for their existence and survival from #ResourceExtraction by industries who are operating without the free prior and informed consent of the affected communities.

2. This report is submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (#IACHR) in conjunction with a thematic hearing held during the 172nd period of sessions. At the hearing,
Commissioners heard directly from those involved in the indigenous-led resistance to the #DakotaAccessPipeline (DAPL) at Standing Rock, North Dakota. This report addresses the criminalization and suppression of protest by indigenous human rights defenders and their allies by United States (U.S.) federal, state and local governments, working hand-in-hand with private security forces [#Blackwater], specifically in relation to the construction and operation of #DAPL by #EnergyTransfer
Partners and Dakota Access, LLC (Dakota Access) and the connected #BayouBridgePipeline (collectively the “#BakkenPipeline”).

3. Standing Rock is an emblematic case of #IndigenousResistance to extractive industry that drew attention from around the world as water protectors met on the banks of the #MissouriRiver in peaceful assembly in what was the largest gathering of indigenous peoples in the U.S. in 100 years. Standing Rock is merely one example of how the U.S. government works with industry to approve energy projects carried out without the meaningful participation or consent of
indigenous nations. Indigenous peoples are left with no choice but to peacefully protest and then are criminalized for their efforts to defend their lands and resources.

4. Since Standing Rock, there has been an alarming trend by the United States government and state legislatures to criminalize opposition to pipelines and other energy projects. These #AntiProtest and so-called “#CriticalInfrastructure laws” progress towards criminalizing dissent and implicitly condone the use of excessive force towards human rights defenders, often including indigenous peoples and their allies who are at the forefront of resistance to extractive industries. As the international community has acknowledged, these laws are incompatible with domestic and international law. The governments’ use of excessive force and mass arrests to threaten, intimidate, and silence “#WaterProtectors” seeking to defend their lands, resources, and #culture, and the collusion with private security forces, violate fundamental human rights to #FreeSpeech and Aassembly enshrined in international human rights law and the #USConstitution.

5. The information provided here builds on a 2016 request for Precautionary Measures filed by the #StandingRock, #CheyenneRiver and #YanktonSioux tribes, past Commission hearings on similar matters that remain unsettled, and reports on Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Activities, and the Criminalization of #HumanRightsDefenders. In addition, the United Nations has reported on the situation at #StandingRock through the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of of indigenous peoples. Despite condemnation from these international bodies and mechanisms, water protectors continue to suffer impacts from the criminalization of their dissent, while the United States moves forward permitting new #pipeline projects on indigenous territories.

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