Fascism Thrives on Silence. Today, We March

Today, under a stormy sky in Washington, Donald Trump will stage a military parade to celebrate his birthday. More importantly, millions of Americans will take to the streets in a public show of people power.

Click here to find a march near you.

As Trump tests his authoritarian tactics, it is crucial that we persist in support of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law. Public demonstrations are a time-tested way to undermine dictators (and wannabe dictators).

If you are able, please do your part by showing up today.

Every voice matters in times like these. Because the enemies of democracy thrive on fear — and silence. In her recent Tanner lecture at Harvard University, Dr. Ruha Benjamin recalled Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison’s warning on fascism — and the role silence plays in enabling it.

Watch the full clip:

Transcript:

Toni Morrison said it best in an essay published in 1995 in which she traces the connection between the creep of fascism and the censorship of dissent:

‘Let us be reminded that before there is a final solution, there must be a first, a second one, even a third.’

Step One: ‘Start with constructing an internal enemy as both focus and diversion.’

Step Two: ‘Isolate and demonize that enemy by unleashing and protecting the utterance of overt and coded name calling and verbal abuse.’

Step Three: ‘Enlist and create sources and distributors of information who are willing to reinforce the demonizing process because it is profitable, because it grants power, and because it works.’

Step Four: ‘Palisade all art forms — monitor, discredit, or expel those that challenge or destabilize processes of demonization and deification.’

Step Five: ‘Subvert and malign all representatives of and sympathizers with this constructed enemy.’

Step Six: ‘Solicit from among the enemy collaborators who agree with and can sanitize the dispossession process.’

Step Seven: ‘Pathologize the enemy in scholarly and popular mediums. Recycle, for example, scientific racism and the myths of racial superiority in order to naturalize the pathology.’

Step Eight. ‘Criminalize the enemy. Then prepare, budget for, and rationalize the building of and holding arenas for the enemy, especially its males and absolutely its children.’

Step Nine: ‘Reward mindlessness and apathy with monumentalized entertainments and with little pleasures, tiny seductions, a few minutes on television, a few lines in the press, a little pseudo success, the illusion of power and influence, a little fun, a little style, a little consequence.’

Step Ten: ‘Maintain, at all costs, silence.’

And so it goes without saying that a crucial part of combating fascism is refusing to be silent.

If you're able, show up today. If you can't march, please share this with someone who can.