By Adam Hefty (January 31, 2017) The problem with these medium.com shock pieces is that they’re demobilizing. It’s hard to tell how much of Trump’s first week is strategy and how much of it is incompetence. But we know that one thing that has slowed previous Republican over-reaches (Contract with America, government shutdowns, etc.) is protest and outrage, and this week has…
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By Chris Crass (January 31, 2017) There are demonstrations taking place all over the country today and remember 10 people demonstrating in a rural community, small town or the suburbs, where I grew up, can have a powerful impact, like the hundreds and thousands in cities. When we act as movement, like Black Lives Matter, like Standing Rock, like the…
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By Arun Gupta (January 30, 2017) I am getting notes and articles forwarded from numerous people, smart people, that are full of paranoid speculation about coups, false flag operations, and military mobilizations. STOP IT. This is exactly what the Trumpkins want. They want you to be paranoid, to be consumed by fear and irrationality. The last thing they want you…
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By Joe Lowndes (January 29, 2017) As Steve Bannon’s central role in the White house becomes increasingly clear, we are struck by panic about who he is and how to understand his power. I increasingly think the source of it is to be found neither in his Huntingtonian worldview nor his self-described Leninist orientation toward power, but rather Hollywood. Screenwriter/producer…
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By Chuck Morse (January 28, 2017) It’s tempting to see Trump’s attacks on the media and the democratic system (voting) as an expression of his self-sabotaging vanity, but I think we’re seeing something much more malevolent. I think he’s setting the stage for his re-election in four years and the assertion of a much more violent, racist regime. That is,…
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By Joseph Orosco (January 27, 2017) This academic term, the Anarres Project for Alternative Futures teamed up with the Allied Studies for Another Politics! and the Spring Creek Project to host a film and discussion series called “Finding Hope in Dystopia”. The idea behind the series was to create a space for discussion about how to find hope for transformative…
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By Joe Lowndes (January 26, 2017) Unable to sleep last night, I thought at least how relieved I was not to be teaching introduction to US politics and government again this quarter. I would have no idea how to do so. Institutions are always undergoing slow transformations, and everything – the presidency, congress, the bureaucracy, parties, media, etc, must always…
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By David DeHart (January 25, 2017) It’s hard to say for sure what to do in times like these… but here are some thoughts on what I hope to do going forward. I hope these tidbits will help inspire ideas of your own! Take every opportunity you can to contribute to resistance against the oppression and destruction that we are…
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By Arun Gupta (January 24, 2017) Last weekend saw the two poles of American protest. One side was the inspiring and historic Women’s Marches. But it was non-confrontational and the Democrats are working furiously to co-opt it and shunt it into electoral politics. If that happens, it will be a disaster like the “Wisconsin Uprising,” and the entrenchment of Scott…
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By Paul Messersmith-Glavin (January 24, 2017) To the well-meaning liberals complaining about “anarchist violence” and broken windows: please stop. Instead, come out to the next protest and look around and see what’s actually going on. For instance, if you had come out to the streets of Portland on January 20th, you would have seen literally thousands of people, most of…
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By Jasper Smith (January 23, 2017) Representative John Lewis recently raised questions about the legitimacy of the new president. For me, this raised a larger question about the legitimacy of our democracy and elections. There are international standards for what constitutes a free and fair election that have been agreed upon by the countries of the world and to…
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