In my
This
Week in Fascism diary yesterday, I proposed a Non-Violent
Anti-Fascistic Movement. This diary received a very good
response. The voting was 93% positive to the question of "Do
you have my back." Of course that was only 54 voters but it
is an excellent start. Tonight I will present my idea for what
the movement should be about. Come below the fold and see what
actual progress was made, what you can do to help, what I am
doing and what I will do.
The first thing we need to do is get
people here interested so go ahead and hit that recommend button
to make sure as many people as possible have the opportunity to
participate.
My goal for this movement is simple. To stop the
conservatives who are taking over this Country, which I love, and
prevent them from turning America into a Corporate Nationalistic
State that would make Mussolini proud.
I will not go into
whether or not this is happening because I, and many others, have
presented the case to the point where anyone who has taken the
time to follow this series should be well aware of both what Fascism
is and the fact that the Conservative movement is trying to
institute fascist policies, whether consciously or not. See my
previous diaries and
follow the many links presented there if you are not
convinced.
What's the next step? We have to persuade more
people to join the cause. Those within the Blogosphere sadly will
not be enough to create an effective movement since very few of
the participants in the blogosphere are open to changing their minds.
We have to go to the people who can be reached. Where are these
people? They are in our churches, at our workplaces, and in our neighborhoods. I am hoping to create a movement
where people talk to their neighbors, coworkers, friends, family,
and fellow church members.
Stop trying to persuade die-hard
Conservatives and radical Republicans. We cannot in this day in age persuade these people that what they are doing is fascistic. The constant bickering only leads to more hatred on both sides. We need to target the
millions of Americans who did not vote and those who voted democratic. These are the people that can be sersuaded. Most of the people that did not vote stayed home for one of
two reasons. They didn't care or they didn't think their voices would be heard.
We
need to persuade those millions to vote and vote democratic. We have
to find a way to reach them. The first thing we must do is prove
that they will be heard. With the last two presidential elections
being as close as they were we should be able to persuade these
nonvoters that their votes can matter. We have to get them to
care.
Everyone needs to take one person as their target and to
persuade two likeminded people to do the same. And those two
likeminded people take a personal target and persuade two other
likeminded individuals to do the same. That is how a grass roots
movement grows. Make it an open cell movement keep your two
friends informed and makes sure they inform their two friends ad
finitum.
During the time leading up to the elections in 05,
06, and 08 we have to make others understand that, whatever a person's
individual concern is, it is part of a greater fight against fascism.
If your friend is against the conservative efforts to weaken the
Constitution then use a nationalism vs. patriotism argument,
If your friend is against what is happening to the GLBT community
then use the scapegoating argument.
If your friend is
against the wars, the draft, or runaway military spending us the
militarism argument.
If your friend is against the way
women are treated then use the sexism argument.
I could go
on and on but the point is that everything the Conservatives,
Religious Right, and Republicans are doing can be fit into the
larger fascism argument.
Once you have your friend open to
one or more of the areas of fascist thought then you can expand
your argument into the broader picture of fascism and then,
hopefully, we will have them hooked.
So the next question is:
what am I going to do?
I will begin going around the country and
speaking to whomever that will listen and attempt to persuade them that their individual
interests fall within the greater umbrella of Anti-fascism. I
don't want the movement to become some 527 or some kind of
lobbying effort. I want it to be a movement of people who are willing to tell
their friends that what they worry about is actually part of a
greater problem, which is fascism. We need a unifying cause and I
hope you agree with me that anti-Fascism can be that cause.
What can you
do?
I will list individual areas in which people can help.
I have been contacted my many people offering me personal assistance
in many areas of the country.
I need people to set up
engagements at various venues.
I need people willing
to make sure I get to the venues and back to the bus station.
Hopefully fed and showered before I have to go on to the next
location.
I currently have an offer for a digital video
camera to allow me to make a video record of my progress to share
with the community. I hope the time required for video editing
won’t require too much time.
I will also need someone who
can host the video's on their site.
I would like seven
people to take one day each and cull through the diaries of that
day for instances of fascism and send them to me so I can keep up
with what's happening and continue This Week in fascism.
I need bloggers to frame their individual posts such that whatever
they are commenting on will tie into the common problem of
fascism.
I need everyone to recommend my diaries so that
it gets attention from the lurkers that just stop by for a
peek.
It has been suggested that I sell bumper stickers to become partially self supportive. I am no good at that type of design work so design and slogan suggestions will be appreciated.
I could use someone willing to have their website as a central location which would be listed on the bumper stickers
It has been suggested that I keep an analog tape recorder handy to record instances of harrasment for legal defense. If someone is willing to provide a tape recorder that would be appreciated
It's time to organize! I intend to leave as soon as I
can make a plan on somewhere to start. I am placing individual threads below so that volunteers can list what they are willing to do. I need idea's more then
anything else.
Help me get active and let's all get active
too!