Hello
It’s not surprising that many mainstream media commentaries, about the
apparent revival of Trumpism and its ideological appendages,
effortlessly gloss over the historical roots of all that the MAGA
movement represents. AND, the political movements that fought against
this white nationalist vision of what ‘America’ is supposed to look
like. Mainstream, so-called legacy media, and its corporate
underpinnings, is basically ahistorical and anti-intellectual. This
profile narrows the discursive political terrain to the kiddie pool. The
results of this arrangement is a diminished and restricted public sphere.
Not surprisingly, within this distorted landscape, progressive movements
in the U.S. frequently succumb to a false binary paradigm in which
politics is a battle between Democrats and Republicans rather than the
more complete picture; this effectively marginalises those progressive
movements that have been historically responsible for struggling to
enshrine democratic values and progressive institutions within a ‘civic
commons’ that is embedded in the political landscape.
Within this very condensed framework of U.S. history, fascism,
neo-fascism, or post-fascism (as described by G.M. Támas) is an
incipient historical element. Linking the roots of the KKK to Trump’s
enabling of the Proud Boys is not that difficult.
If we examine the legacies, methodologies and practices of progressive
insurgencies (not just in the U.S.), maybe we can visualize an
alternative to what is now dominating the political and economic landscape.
*So what's the use of art, theory, activism? There is no alternative
without art, theory, AND activism!*
allan
On 24/01/2025 10:26, David Garcia via nettime-l wrote:
Trumpism and other autocratic strongmen of the new era of ‘the deal’
routinely claim to be an insurgency displacing elites. But so far the
most impactful voice I have heard challenging this narrative has been
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, speaking in the post inauguration service.
She quietly but defiantly forced Trump and his acolytes to endure a
sermon asking for compassion and mercy for those individuals and
communities that are being targeted and living in fear. And she did so
in a manner that highlighted the key way in which Trumpism for all its
cheap religiosity contradicts the core of the Christian message, which
contains the weird and radical claim that it is better to endure
suffering than to be the cause of suffering. In simple language it
exploded all of Trump’s expedient and hubristic claims of being an
instrument of divine intervention. Maybe it opens up surprising
avenues of resistance that escape pocket book politics and the usual
sterile liberal pieties.
David Garcia
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