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Technorati'The End of America'
Naomi Wolf's 'The End of America,' a searing indictment of George Bush's 'fascist tactics,' has been made into an equally uncompromising documentary
I don't call Bush a fascist. If you look carefully at my language, I am very considered. What I do talk about is "fascist tactics". One definition of "fascist" is when the state informs against the individual in an effort to exclude democracy. And there's no question that that is what's happening now.
If you look at history, you can see that there are 10 steps for turning an open society into a dictatorship. This process took place in "fascist shifts" ranging from Italy and Germany in the 1920s and 1930s to the Latin American coups of the 1970s and beyond. And, difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear that each of these 10 steps has already been initiated in the USA by the Bush administration.
With its jails in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, of course, Guantanamo in Cuba, America certainly has its gulag now. Plus, in our film you see footage of the 2008 Republican National Convention in St Paul, where 400 US citizens were arrested for protesting; footage that was buried in the ground by one of the protesters, but survived.
The fact that the President can call anyone an enemy combatant now and hold them in solitary confinement for three years; the fact that you've got torture camps; the fact that they can "render" people - if this isn't using force against the individual in a effort to undermine democratic process, I don't know what is.
On 1 October, Bush deployed the First Brigade in the United States of America - that's 3,000 to 5,000 warriors redeployed from Iraq, battle-hardened, with tanks, with weapons. The army say their mission is crowd control and dealing with unruly individuals. That violates the Constitution and years of making sure the military don't police civilian streets. It's one definition of a police state. Then there's the federalised National Guard, not to mention Blackwater (the private security company).
I'm heartened by how The End of America has resonated with people. At my events now, it's conservatives and liberals attending because everyone gets that something very sinister is going on. That's what the film does: it shows how these individual stories we are familiar with fit into a much larger pattern.
We're not out of the woods, even if there's a miracle of a transparent, accountable, uncontested, not-defrauded Barack Obama victory. We're still in trouble without a citizens' movement to restore these checks and balances, to roll back these laws, because Obama will be subjected to the same pressures our current situation would give any leader.
My book notes that there's a giant profit motive in shredding the Constitution - telecommunications companies, weapons manufacturers, all of them are shifting into surveillance and security technology. And they're writing laws to facilitate security officials. So Obama will be faced with those pressures - and that's why citizens have to be a counterpressure.
The Founders knew that, without checks and balances, the best-intentioned leaders are going to attempt to surveil the opposition, intimidate their commentators, and threaten their journalists with prosecution under the Espionage Act.
I want to sign people up, across party lines, to create a powerful citizens' movement. I just met Michael Kirk, the distinguished documentary director for Frontline, and he said - which is true - that (Dick) Cheney and (David) Addington have buried time-bombs so deep in secret legislation that we're never going to find them, as they wait to be activated during the next Republican regime.
We may have thought of the American Constitution as a very boring part of civics education in middle school, but it is actually this very, very precious radical document that protects us in a very personal way.
For me, there's this comic component: we've been OK with a foreign policy that perverts democracies around the world, so long as our liberties were secure at home. And now we're experiencing the same kind of intimidation here that we tolerated around the world for so long. The urgency of the timing is why there such a huge distribution plan going on in the USA for this film. It's even been made available online for free.
I knew nothing about the film-making process; it's all new to me. But there are these two remarkable Emmy-nominated film-makers, Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern, who made The Trials of Darryl Hunt, about a man who spent 20 years in prison for a brutal rape/murder he did not commit, and The Devil Came on Horseback, about Darfur. I thought: "Oh wow, if only we can get these women to tell this story." And they got these amazing interviews. These ordinary Americans I'd written about, that I knew from newspaper clippings; they found them, and senior people in the military and journalism. I tried to be as useful as I could, in the sense that I tried to give the best lecture I could, which they intercut through the film. But it's their movie. I knew I'd be well served, so I just watched them work their magic.
49 Comments so far
Show AllEconomic Collapse + Perpetual War + Global Warming = Opportunity
"To do what?"
"Change the world?"
"Otherwise?"
"The abyss."
NOTES ON WOLF
1) Ms. Wolf says we need a "citizens' movement" - one that will operate "across party lines" - to resist incipient fascism: to "restore...checks and balances, to roll back" repressive legislation advanced by the right.
I feel that, somehow, waving an Americanist flag with 'Founding Fathers!' and 'Checks and Balances' emblazoned on it will not inspire the groundswell progressive movement we all want.
With due respect to ACLU friends: As much as right wing legislation menaces democracy - and the possibility of resistance - it does not seem to me that the rhetoric of 'restore democratic rule of law' will mobilize broad resistance.
Rather, I imagine this agenda embedded in a movement based on attacks on capitalist inequality and demands for government to serve the goal of economic justice.
2) The call for a movement... grassroots ... citizens ... democratic ... progressive ... etc ... is recurrent on the left; the besetting problem, as I discussed in another post, is how. Classically, left wing resistance is not a matter only of themes, but of social resistance based on the existence of a working class. Classically, a part of the middle and professional classes has attached itself to workers' movements.
Today, the industrial union basis of the mass left does not exist, and this is deeply problematic. I wish Common Dreams would devote not just an article, but an ongoing column to the problems and possibilities of organizing in a post-industrial, post-industrial-union setting, in a historically right wing country.
"I wish Common Dreams would devote not just an article, but an ongoing column to the problems and possibilities of organizing in a post-industrial, post-industrial-union setting, in a historically right wing country."
-
And how can CommonDreams do that? All CommonDreams does is reprint newspaper articles that it effectively steals.
As increasing numbers of people suffer, more and more individuals and organizations will come out of the woodwork offering us an answer, when all they are really doing is lining their own pockets at our expense. Noam Chomsky is the most adept at that.
It's time to stop expecting someone to come along and make things all right - so long as we throw enough money their way - and realize that the fault lies with ourselves.
CommonDreams hid the comments section after it claimed thousands of its readers complained about the posts. The sad reality is NO ONE GIVES A DAMN about organizing for change.
A "reality" is not a permanent construction.
So cheer up.
Something that disturbs me is that even Naomi, bless her, refers to soldiers as "warriors" -- another thing that disturbs me is that the President is being so often referred to as "our Commander in Chief"
The president is NOT "our" commander in chief. The president is the chief executive, a citizen AND commander in chief of the armed forces -- this was a safeguard set by the founding fathers to prevent the military from taking control. When the Prez becomes our COC we are on a straight road to military dictatorship...
I repeat, the president is NOT my or your Commander of Anything -- the term COC is actually a good translation of Imperator / Emperor, the title Julius Caesar and the other Roman azzholes preferred ubove all to be called...
There's a glory in the morning because the earth turns 'round and a promise in the evening when the sun goes down
The president is NOT the chief executive. CEOs run corporations, which are private tyrannies - you do as you are told in a corporation - you have no say.
The government is funded by the taxpayer, and those in government are merely employees, including the president. The government - as an institution - is meant to represent the people of a country. Those in government are paid to do a job - to serve the people!
GwNorth writes:
"I call Bush a Fascist."
Bush's people sent a mob of operatives to Florida to pretend to be local citizens outraged by the attempt to arrive at an accurate vote count.
They also sent a mob to scream every day outside of the Vice-Presidential residence, "Gore get out of Cheney's house!", day after day.
The mere act of taking power by threatened violence, deliberate fraud, and collusion by crony judges in the highest court, Bush proved himself a fascist.
The rest is only the elaboration of what was done in November & December of 2000.
Naomi Wolf has always been an inept writer, but the ineptitude of this "essay" exceeds even her usual standard.
"I am very considered."
Who's considering you, Naomi?
"One definition of "fascist" is when the state informs against the individual in an effort to exclude democracy."
Whom does the state "inform against the individual?" Does the state inform itself against the individual? Does Ms. Wolf mean "spies on the individual?" Why "the individual" instead of "citizens," for example? Does Ms. Wolf mean the state isn't "informing against" groups or organizations?
It gets worse.
"...everyone gets that something very sinister is going on."
"And they're writing laws to facilitate security officials."
Ms. Wolf probably means "laws that facilitate what security officials are doing," but who knows?
"...and he said - which is true - that (Dick) Cheney..."
And I say - which is true - that Naomi Wolf is a pathetic writer whose only talent is promoting herself and her ludicrous oversimplications.
Jacob Freeze
As is said, " Denial is not a river in Egypt. "
Language is informed by its usage.
One possibility for 'informs': "To be a pervasive presence in" as in the state is a pervasive presence acting against the individual.
Or perhaps: "To give form or character to" as in the state gives form and character to that which is counter to the interests of the individual.
If we wrote the opposite intent simply as "the state informs the individual," would we be as equally confused and trite as to the intent of the statement?
The beauty and color of language is such that it is virtually infinite in it's possible expression, but rarely do we mere mortals consider words separate from the thought and intent of the speaker. Just as the map is not the territory, the word is not the meaning.
Those that pick at words speak far more to their own negative predisposition than to the cause of the words themselves or the use of them by another. Instead, we will generally smile most assuredly to the person who misspeaks yet whose intent is in agreement with our own.
It would seem of all the folks that write on this forum, you above all would lend some greater latitude to artistic expressions and interpretations. Or is it your belief that 1) language is not an art form, or 2) all art forms must be practiced with the strictest adherence to every other person's expectations?
The only thing true in your post is that IT is merely your (humble?) opinion.
Maybe you could write a whole book of apologetics for imbecilic writers like Naomi Wolf, explaining how every malapropism is really "poetic!"
"One definition of "fascist" is when the state informs against the individual in an effort to exclude democracy."
Naomi Wolf is a more "poetic" political writer than Walter Benjamin!
Harharharhar!!!
"One definition of "fascist" is when the state informs against the individual in an effort to exclude democracy."
Naomi Wolf is deeper than Hannah Arendt!
Harharharhar!!!
As the original Mrs. Malaprop would say...
"Oh! it gives me the hydrostatics to such a degree."
Harharharhar!!!
Jacob Freeze
"Considered" is obviously a typo which occurred during transcription of the article.
I can't see how "considered" is a typo in that context. What was it supposed to be? Seriously, I'm not interested in criticizing anybody for typos, especially in a post where I wrote "oversimplication" for "oversimplification."
Jacob Freeze
Danke, Herr Goebbels.
If you only read progressive websites, you might think any criticism of Naomi Wolf inevitably originates on the far-right fringe of the Republican Party, but those guys couldn't care less about what a silly cliché-monger like Naomi Wolf preaches to her low-brow choir.
It's only on the internet that Ms. Wolf has anything like a "reputation" at all, and elsewhere Michiko Kakutani's assessment in the New York Times is more typical:
Naomi Wolf is a "frustratingly inept messenger: a sloppy thinker and incompetent writer. She tries in vain to pass off tired observations as radical apercus, subjective musings as generational truths, sappy suggestions as useful ideas."
"It's only on the internet that Ms. Wolf has anything like a "reputation" at all..."
It's only on the Internet that any regular truth/reality is presented at all. Maybe in a few magazines, too. But I surely wouldn't rely on The New York Times for an honest evaluation of any writer as progressive as Naomi.
Michiko Kakutani is one of the worst neocon shills working for that shilliest of neocons, Sam Tanenhaus, on the NYTBR staff. You can always tell when the sneers suddenly drop into her otherwise lifeless freshman-book report prose.
It's always refreshing to hear from another Harry Potter fan who hates Michiko Kakutani, but...
Does your mommy know you're playing with her computer?
Jacob Freeze
*Swoon*
Aloha, salud, lechiem,
- Tobias
http://www.youtube.com/user/tobiasaurusrex
Somebody FINALLY mentioned Eugene Debs - Yeah! Talk about sanitized history books. Naomi is Right On !
Naomi is dead on with her discerning analysis.
BUT, there will be NO change, whoever is elected on Tuesday - DEM or GOP.
There has to be a reason the Dems never attempted to repeal the Patriot Act, repeal the Military Commissions act, eliminate funding of KBR-built concentration camps, defund the illegal military operation in Iraq, side with Bush on increasing military in Afghanistan, impeach anyone, and so on and so forth.
The demoblican lackeys of the corporate oligarchy running the country will make sure nothing changes so they can receive their '30 pieces of silver'.
But I could be wrong !
Dafoe
Bush is a facist and this nation is well on its way to that state, propped up by corporate amurca and cheered on by a goodly number of its citizens. I am still betting on a red alert and martial law before the actual change over.
Of course if those two GOP straight talking true blue orphans get in then more of the same but if they don't a red alert is an easy way to continue in power for the GOP, a city on a dung hill!!?.
Democracy Is Leavin
It’s leavin in free speech cages
From the board rooms to the catacombs
From mount Rushmore to Dubai
Democracy is leavin lots of places
using excusing phrases
to trade freedom for security
to feed non stop wars
and prop up corporate welfare scores
It’s leavin with devil prophesy
on John the fallen angel
as dead sea revelations scroll on
for all the monopolies of truth to ride on
from Jerusalem to Mecca to Lhasa
Democracy is leavin
It’s leavin with flowin black robed judges
On the bankers twin towers dust
the nine eleven shredder of epic proportions
with spores and anthrax scares
and preemptive false flagged wars
Democracy is leavin from the US of A
and lots of other places
most with US bases
in the suited empire of pen twisting plunder
from the occupation in the holy land
to broken Babylon in the fertile valley
and all those poppied stan lands
where joy or sorrow hides in burkas
and the body tally of the Taliban
bleeding as in culture wars
so markets rule while profit is no fool
as the corporate divide and conquer whores
look for more marks on further shores
Democracy is leavin
It’s leavin for the War of our bread and butter
as it writes the history for it’s end
say...
Is that ‘the end of history’ or the triumph of ‘the man’?
or is it free like masons justice
or just us ... the puppeteers for Uncle Sam?
and...
will end timers rejoice
from the new age corporate inquisition
can you be put to the question?
or will it be extraordinary rendition?
From Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo
Democracy is leavin
It’s leavin belly down on Enron towers
like an early frost on flowers
as more walls get built
for powers like the status quo
while the ashes of olive branches
compliment depleted U and
wailing Zionist atrocities
in the Holy land blowin like a kiss
from Megiddo to the fervent wish
for Armageddon
Democracy is leavin the US of A
and that ain’t all.... aeh
It’s leavin the maple leafed empire lite
and lots of other places
as trash talking media faces
speak between the spaces with bites
so trite we fail to note the bite was bought
So I guess Democracy is leavin.
Yah It’s leavin
but did it ever really get here?
democracy is leavin
but did it ever really get here?
well, once upon a time
before 9/11, george wanker bush, credit crunch and FEAR.
perhaps...................perhaps, perhaps.
What, exactly, are the secret legislative time bombs Kirk is talking about? Why are the Democrats in Congress, including Obama & Biden, not working to remove them?
Oregoncharles
I think you answered your own question. It's OBAMA, he won't do anything.
Try Kucinich.
I wish that some of the 'Left' throwers around of the word 'fascism' would go out, read some history, and perhaps begin to get a clue about what fascism really is besides being their own favorite epithet for the Republican Right Wing Christian gangs.
Western 'Democracies' (imperialist countries)have always acted like fascists to the rest of the world. However, they do rewire ruling class circuitry inside their own countries on a continual ongoing basis, and we are about to see that once again with their putting the Democrats back into the White House.
Lesson here. Be somewhat precise when using the word 'fascism', or otherwise just look kind of dumb when you use the word.
I know enough about history to believe that it's no exaggeration to use the F-word for this lot.
But what's much worse: By now, roughly half of the American population either have - according to what I have observed over the years - strong fascist leanings or are outright fascists. That is frightening.
Because what is considered "extreme-right-wing" in Europe is Republican mainstream, and has been for decades. So they got used to it.
I think many on this site do consider the term to be a precise fit. And if we need to go back and study history, I would invite you to come along.
I recommend as a good place to start Kevin Passmore's short book Fascism: A Very Short Introduction.
Alan MacDonald
serious prof, another very good book is Bertram Gross's "Friendly Fascism" (1980) ---- that warning was 28 years ago at the beginning of the Reagan regime.
I have it and wholeheartedly agree.
Alan MacDonald
Naomi, yes your concerns about preventing the "End of America" at the hands of a 'corporatist Empire' that is "shredding the Constitution" (as you say), and where even massive citizens groups "still have trouble" trying to counterbalance the corporate Empire's money-power over politicians who won't stand up for us and America without constant prodding (as you noted), and where the 'corporatist Empire' is pushing the political life of our society (our indivisible political economy) more and more toward real fascism ---- these concerns of yours are valid, serious, dangerous, and getting worse.
Fortunately, the best solution to such serious concerns about America and America’s chance for democracy “ending” under the heel of a proto-fascist corporate empire today, or the overt political economic British Empire at our birth, is the same timeless constant of democracy against empire: --- to recognize the threat, to openly call out the threat in plain language, and to have the courage, among our people and our elected political leaders to face the oppression of all combined political and economic empire, and to stand-up and fight empire directly.
Fortunately, Naomi, we have an outstanding American ‘democracy advocate’ who has been very successful in taking-on and fighting corporatist Empire in both its economic and political forms – and even more fortunately, we have courageous leaders of our anti-war and progressive movements who have tossed ‘conventional cowardice’ and appeasement aside and dared to openly support the only presidential candidate not only to even whisper the name ‘corporate Empire’, but to forthrightly fight it directly with a small band of ‘minute-men’ for democracy.
Naturally, I am speaking of Ralph Nader --- the only true ‘democracy advocate’ running for president to confront the very ‘corporatist Empire’ that endangers the “End of America”
Today Ralph Nader received the full and open endorsement of antiwar leader Justin Raimondo, and a few days ago Nader received the endorsement of Howard Zinn, the outstanding anti-war and progressive force of the last four decades in America.
Ralph Nader, Justin Raimondo, editor of Antiwar.com, just endorsed your candidacy, your platform, and your commitment to democracy over ‘corporate Empire’
Congratulations --- this is huge!! (Just as was Howard Zinn's change of support to you)
The most important anti-war voices are realizing that Nader's pro-democracy advocacy and fight against the hidden 'corporatist Empire' that controls our country is the only principled choice to make against all the tyrannies of Empire.
Being anti-empire entails being anti-war, and anti-corporate crime, and anti-spying, and anti-domestic tyranny.
Here's Justin's endorsement article:
http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/ralph_nader_for_president/
And here's part of my letter to Justin thanking him and pointing out how right he is:
"Justin, "this could be the start of a great friendship".
Nader is the 'democracy advocate' of our times, and the only candidate willing to take-on the 'corporatist Empire' which controls our country through the facade of its two-party, 'Vichy' charade of democracy.
This hidden and unmentioned 'corporatist Empire', as Hannah Arendt might say, "entails imperial wars abroad, and tyranny at home."
Nader is a pro-democracy/anti-empire candidate -- and he's not afraid to say it, or shout it -- just like America's founding fathers.
By being anti-empire, as you note Justin, Nader is anti-war, and anti-socialized capitalist 'bailouts', and anti-fascist, and anti-spying, and anti-domestic tyranny, and, and, and anti-quiet on all the corporate empire’s oppressions that these two stooges won't even talk about.
With all this anti, some might ask, "well, what's Nader pro on?"
One word, Pro-democracy."
Run, Ralph, Run ---- as the only principled pro-democracy advocate/candidate against the 'corporatist Empire'
I have already vote - for Nader!!
I have already vote - for Nader!!
Thank you so much for sharing this information! It's been so difficult and depressing reading all of the pro-imperialism rationalizations on here, and it helps to read posts like this one! I'll be voting for Ralph Nader on Tuesday (no early voting where I live). It seems we have 1 in 20 sane people who will vote for Nader or McKinney; I am proud to be one of us!
I voted today for Ralph Nader/Matt Gonzalez.
I also voted for Rebecka Kennedy, Green party for AR State Senator.
I am so proud and happy to vote for them.
Your faith in Obama is very misplaced. He has voted for all military appropriations in the short time he has been in the Senate and merely proposes a shift in our perpetual war strategy from Iraq to Afghanistan. Obama would leave 60,000 troops in Iraq and shift the balance over to Afghanistan. This is "hope"? He would not close any of our 700 military bases in 130 countries around the world and supports our role as policeman of the world. The only hope for a rational foreighn policy is the upcoming depression which will probably mean that we wont be able to continue to support our massive military program. We should stay home, mind our own business and encourage trade with all countries rather than pursue a policy of perpetual war. Support for almost any third party candidate in Tuesdays election would help.
We need to arrest Bush and Cheney as soon as possible to teach our children that America was not intended to be the way that they made it.
Dear Naomi,
I applaud your work, and have read "The End of America". It is frightening, but with people like yourself spreading the word and making a difference, hopefully it won't be the end, but instead a change - for the better.
Thank you for what you do.
Both Naomis. What a great way to end the week!
pnolan: Dethroning the king is not enough especially when there's the dark prince in waiting (you can apply the inference to either candidate as far as I'm concerned). I'm afraid the king could not have pillage the kingdom without the support of his court (Congress) and the noble gentry and that will not change substantively this Nov though the names assigned to the peerages may shift. What needs to be done is to somehow erase all of the corrupt influences over the past 8 years of reign (I'd actually like to go back much farther, but let's be a little practical here). I propose that we start with legislation that revokes all of the legislation passed by Congress and signed by his majesty over the past 8 years and start from a somewhat clean slate as it were. Of course there's technicalities to be dealt with (budget, etc.) but essentially there's absolutely nothing of merit that can be reclaimed from the last eight years of government and those few things that did sneak through that actually had some slight bit of value can be re-insituted (what they might be escapes me right now). It's not quite a revolution but it would be a bloodless way of returning law and order and citizen rights to a point in time where at least it would be palitable; a place to move forward from. This is the kind of change that i propose. What do you think?
Though I'm certainly not an attorney, it seems to me the way to turn back ALL of the legislation of the past 8 years is to prove that Bu$h was never legally POTUS. Isn't the appointment of the president by SCOTUS unconstitutional? Then, the 2004 election was stolen through election fraud, which is also very provable. It seems that once Bu$h is officially OUT and defanged, this would be a good time to investigate the legality of his entire presidency. I realize this is an extreme longshot, but isn't it a possibility? If this could be proven, it would seem everything he signed into law would be null and void.
Sioux Rose
AUSSIDAWG: That is precisely the strategy I see as plausible.
America's foreign policy has been fascist for a long time. We have 720 foreign military bases around the world to protect large corporations and to keep foreign governments that are obstreperous in line. We use foreign aid which is an euphemism for foreign bribery to maintain hegemony;we use sanctions, like in Cuba, with the canard of Communism, when the number 1 Communist country in the world is China. We use assassinations and wars against elected democracies, in a frenzy of bellicosity. This is all done with the egregious,canard of " we are bringing them freedom and Democracy"! If that isn't the definition of Fascism,please tell me where I am wrong, because this is a terrible thing to say about the country you love.
I don't understand; if you use fascist tactics, and use them long enough, why does this not make you a fascist?, at least of "The Mussolini Defintion" which is the seamless melding of state and corporate power. George Wanker Bush is most certainly a fascist in that sense. While I have no doubt that Bush and Cheney had very serious discussions about overthrowing constitutional rule in this country and declaring themselves Maximum Leaders for Life, it's seemingly too late for that now. Had that happened, then the real defintion of fascism, "The Nazi Defintion", would surely have come to pass; death, hatred and cruelty would have been accorded religious powers and the mass murder of political, cultural and religious enemies would naturally have ensued. All those who read CD and who did not immediately flee would now be dead. So would George Wanker Bush, because Cheney would have liquidated his ass almost immediately.
"... death, hatred and cruelty would have been accorded religious powers ..."
That's a very evocative phrase. I think it accurately describes the mentality of many of Bush's supporters.
I call Bush a Fascist.
Nope, just corrupt.