Hi, everybody.
Some of you might remember my friend Jonathan Barker, a political scientist from the University of Toronto, who came to visit with us a few years back. I have turned to him to help me think about how much danger we are actually in, fascism-wise. I think the short answer he would give is that the danger is substantial.
Here are some materials he has forwarded to me to prod me along in my thinking (links below).
There is one more I will send in a separate message.
Nick
From: Jonathan Barker [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2017 2:21 PM
To: Nancy Barker <[hidden email]>
Subject: Grasping the scary, shaping local action
Greetings from Toronto,
Here are four sources for understanding what US politics is in for and one very promising path of effective resistance and redirection. I read a lot on the new administration and these pieces, I find, throw a bright light on the unfamiliar events spilling out every day. Thanks to friends and relatives who signaled them to me. But let me add that (the late) Sheldon Wolin in his 2008 book Democracy Inc.: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism shows how thoroughly the ground was prepared for the current corruption and strangulation of the political sphere of Democracy.
Three to read, one to watch for a deeper and deeply disturbing exposure of the Trump phenomenon. You may have seen one or more of these.
They complement, but do not duplicate, one another.
All best,
Jonathan
(1) https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n04/sidney-blumenthal/a-short-history-of-the-trump-family [Sidney Blumenthal, A Short History of the Trump
Family, London Review of Books]
(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GAw6dvh8v4 [Masha Gessen on the Trump-Putin relationship - the fifth estate]
(3) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/how-to-build-an-autocracy/513872/ [David Frum, How to build and autocracy. the Atlantic]
(4) https://www.indivisibleguide.com/about-us/ [About the Indivisible Guide and the thousands of groups taking action to reclaim the public sphere in the U.S]
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