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Neo-Nazi protestors organized by the National Socialist Movement demonstrate near where the grand opening ceremonies were held for the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center April 19, 2009 in Skokie, Illinois. About 20 protestors greeted those who left the event with white power salutes and chants. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Can It Happen Here?
It's not the hate that’s new. It’s the apparent sense of entitlement.
May 20, 2019
Can it happen here? Absolutely it can. Even in a liberal bastion. A few weeks ago, a handful of white supremacists marched into a bookstore in Washington D.C., temporarily disrupting a talk by Jonathan Metzl, the author of Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland.
To put this in context, this was in Politics and Prose, in hip DuPont Circle, during an Antiracist Book Festival, on the same day that a 19-year-old white supremacist shot up a California synagogue, killing one person and injuring three others.
Around the same time, two members of the same group, calling itself the American Identity Movement, dressed up in clown suits to disrupt a story hour for kids led by drag queen performers at a New Orleans public library.
These aren't isolated events. The Washington Post reports that white nationalists have been targeting bookstores and libraries across the country for a while, in one instance, going so far as to threaten to burn the store down. Elsewhere, progressive groups are facing threats of violence and intimidation on campus; for example in Portland, where white so-called Patriot groups have targeted meetings of the DSA and the ISO and vandalized an office of the IWW.
It's not the hate that's new. It's the apparent sense of entitlement. Today's hate groups aren't flying-by night; they're out in plain sight, and not just in the media's backwaters but in the nation's capital.
As Metzl put it, today's racist bullies seem especially emboldened. And social media's a big part of that. In person, two guys in clown suits, or even half a dozen with a megaphone, aren't much of a threat, but in social media, stunts like these appear bigger than they are.
Uploaded to the web, videos of the book protests prompted messages of praise on Youtube and much online chatter from right and left. Zapped round the web, the intimidation factor is amplified and potential followers egged on.
Which makes an international initiative to curb the spread of hate online at least worth paying some attention to. The "Christchurch Call," a global pledge to combat online extremism unveiled by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron, is a commitment to work with tech companies to halt the spread of extremist content. It's far from a complete solution but it is a start. The US should sign on. President Trump hasn't of course. He sees no problem.
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. If you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
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Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders interviews forward-thinking people about the key questions of our time on The Laura Flanders Show, a nationally syndicated radio and television program also available as a podcast. A contributing writer to The Nation, Flanders is also the author of six books, including "Bushwomen: How They Won the White House for Their Man" (2005). She is the recipient of a 2019 Izzy Award for excellence in independent journalism, the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for advancing women's and girls' visibility in media, and a 2020 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship for her reporting and advocacy for public media. lauraflanders.org
Can it happen here? Absolutely it can. Even in a liberal bastion. A few weeks ago, a handful of white supremacists marched into a bookstore in Washington D.C., temporarily disrupting a talk by Jonathan Metzl, the author of Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland.
To put this in context, this was in Politics and Prose, in hip DuPont Circle, during an Antiracist Book Festival, on the same day that a 19-year-old white supremacist shot up a California synagogue, killing one person and injuring three others.
Around the same time, two members of the same group, calling itself the American Identity Movement, dressed up in clown suits to disrupt a story hour for kids led by drag queen performers at a New Orleans public library.
These aren't isolated events. The Washington Post reports that white nationalists have been targeting bookstores and libraries across the country for a while, in one instance, going so far as to threaten to burn the store down. Elsewhere, progressive groups are facing threats of violence and intimidation on campus; for example in Portland, where white so-called Patriot groups have targeted meetings of the DSA and the ISO and vandalized an office of the IWW.
It's not the hate that's new. It's the apparent sense of entitlement. Today's hate groups aren't flying-by night; they're out in plain sight, and not just in the media's backwaters but in the nation's capital.
As Metzl put it, today's racist bullies seem especially emboldened. And social media's a big part of that. In person, two guys in clown suits, or even half a dozen with a megaphone, aren't much of a threat, but in social media, stunts like these appear bigger than they are.
Uploaded to the web, videos of the book protests prompted messages of praise on Youtube and much online chatter from right and left. Zapped round the web, the intimidation factor is amplified and potential followers egged on.
Which makes an international initiative to curb the spread of hate online at least worth paying some attention to. The "Christchurch Call," a global pledge to combat online extremism unveiled by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron, is a commitment to work with tech companies to halt the spread of extremist content. It's far from a complete solution but it is a start. The US should sign on. President Trump hasn't of course. He sees no problem.
Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders interviews forward-thinking people about the key questions of our time on The Laura Flanders Show, a nationally syndicated radio and television program also available as a podcast. A contributing writer to The Nation, Flanders is also the author of six books, including "Bushwomen: How They Won the White House for Their Man" (2005). She is the recipient of a 2019 Izzy Award for excellence in independent journalism, the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for advancing women's and girls' visibility in media, and a 2020 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship for her reporting and advocacy for public media. lauraflanders.org
Can it happen here? Absolutely it can. Even in a liberal bastion. A few weeks ago, a handful of white supremacists marched into a bookstore in Washington D.C., temporarily disrupting a talk by Jonathan Metzl, the author of Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland.
To put this in context, this was in Politics and Prose, in hip DuPont Circle, during an Antiracist Book Festival, on the same day that a 19-year-old white supremacist shot up a California synagogue, killing one person and injuring three others.
Around the same time, two members of the same group, calling itself the American Identity Movement, dressed up in clown suits to disrupt a story hour for kids led by drag queen performers at a New Orleans public library.
These aren't isolated events. The Washington Post reports that white nationalists have been targeting bookstores and libraries across the country for a while, in one instance, going so far as to threaten to burn the store down. Elsewhere, progressive groups are facing threats of violence and intimidation on campus; for example in Portland, where white so-called Patriot groups have targeted meetings of the DSA and the ISO and vandalized an office of the IWW.
It's not the hate that's new. It's the apparent sense of entitlement. Today's hate groups aren't flying-by night; they're out in plain sight, and not just in the media's backwaters but in the nation's capital.
As Metzl put it, today's racist bullies seem especially emboldened. And social media's a big part of that. In person, two guys in clown suits, or even half a dozen with a megaphone, aren't much of a threat, but in social media, stunts like these appear bigger than they are.
Uploaded to the web, videos of the book protests prompted messages of praise on Youtube and much online chatter from right and left. Zapped round the web, the intimidation factor is amplified and potential followers egged on.
Which makes an international initiative to curb the spread of hate online at least worth paying some attention to. The "Christchurch Call," a global pledge to combat online extremism unveiled by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron, is a commitment to work with tech companies to halt the spread of extremist content. It's far from a complete solution but it is a start. The US should sign on. President Trump hasn't of course. He sees no problem.
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