Statement from the Network in Defense of Humanity: TO OPPOSE TRUMP IS TO DEFEND HUMANITY
The Trump phenomenon raises the dangerous spectre of fascism in the United States. It has to be stopped. With the U.S. presidential election looming the vitriolic racist, anti-woman anti-immigrant campaign of leading Republican candidate Donald Trump continues unabated. Hardly a day goes by when something even more reactionary comes from his mouth splashing onto the corporate media as the dominant message of the current campaign for the highest political office in the country. The Trump meandering campaign of hate receives vast and disproportionate amounts of coverage compared to that of all the other candidates in the monopoly controlled mainstream media. The Trump campaign stands on the singular theme of, “We Need to Make America Great Again”, driving American exceptionalism to new heights. His appeal resonates within the marginalised and dis enfranchised white working and middle class sectors of society. Instead of pointing to the problems inherent in the contradictions and instabilities of the capitalist system he demonizes internal enemies and external immigrants with impunity. Somehow in Trump’s pattern of thinking: we Americans are the victims and everyone else is against us. Not only does he propose a wall along the Mexican border but will round up all immigrants and refugees without papers and deport them. According to Trump the growing number of Latin Americans, who make up the largest segment of an under payed workforce performing the worst and most dangerous menial labor all over the country, are the enemy of the U.S. “They threaten American safety, they’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists”…is a common refrain at his campaign rallies. Not only does Trump encourage violence against anyone who stands up to his vile and racist rhetoric, he also calls for a ban on immigration of Arab people, the closing of mosques and the monitoring of all Muslims in the U.S. This is a distinct reminder of what it was like to be a Jew in Nazi Germany and having to wear a yellow badge. There is no censoring of what comes out of Trump’s mouth as was recently seen when he said women should be punished for having an abortion if they were made illegal. He quickly back tracked as he has often done on other outrageously derogatory statements but because he has no accountability to anyone including the conservative centre of the Republican Party he says whatever comes to mind. For example he cavalierly says he would put nuclear weapons in Japan and South Korea and would not dismiss using them in Europe as if this would be his unilateral decision in his quest for America’s greatness. The Network of Intellectual, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity (REDH) finds this sharp turn to the right in American politics extremely alarming, taking into account U.S. influence on international affairs, and we call on the people of the world to stand together in its rejection. Perhaps Donald Trump will not win the presidency in November but he has awakened and given a huge boost to white supremacy, xenophobia, violence and the spectre of fascism. This is the biggest and most problematic legacy of his campaign that will fester with or without him unless we unite to stop it. On behalf of the Advisory Board of the Network in Defense of Humanity-United States: Piero Gleijeses James Early Jose Pertierra Michael Parenti Gayle McLaughlin Peter Schey Cristina Vazquez Felix Salvador Kury James Cockcroft Bill Hackwell and Alicia Jrapko Executive Secretariat of the Network in Defense of Humanity (REDH): Carmen Bohórquez (General Coordinador REDH) Omar González (REDH Cuba) Ariana López (REDH Cuba) Nayar López Castellanos (REDH México) Horacio López (REDH Argentina) Luciano Vasapollo (REDH Italy) Marilia Guimaraes (REDH Brazil) Hugo Moldiz (REDH Bolivia) Katu Arkonada (REDH Basque Country) Ángel Guerra (REDH Cuba/México) Roger Landa (REDH (REDH Venezuela) and Juan Manuel Karg (REDH Argentina)
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