Yet, one thing is clear. The current onslaught of revenge and destruction produced by the glaringly visible and deeply brutal authoritarianism of the Trump regime points to a dark future in the most immediate sense. But, its arrogant and unchecked presence has also ignited the great collective power of resistance. Hope and sanity are in the air and the relevance of mass action has a renewed urgency. Some mayors are refusing to allow their cities to be Nazified, demonstrations are taking place every day throughout the country, and all over the globe women are marching to protect their rights. This resistance will continue to grow until it becomes a movement whose power will be on the side of justice not injustice, bridges not walls, dignity not disrespect, compassion not hate. Let's hope they dispel Orwell and Huxley's nightmarish vision of the future in our own time.
[1] Robert Kuttner, "George Orwell and the Power of a Well-Placed Lie," Bill Moyers and The Company, [January 25, 2017]. Online: billmoyers.com/story/orwell-hitler-trump/
[2] Josh Dawsey, Isaac Arnsdorf, Nahal Toosi and Michael Crowley, "White House Nixed Holocaust Statement Naming Jews," Politico (February 3, 2017). Online: http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/41742-white-house-nixed-holocaust-statement-naming-jews
[3] Adam Gopnik, "Orwell's "1984" and Trump's America," The New Yorker, [January 27, 2017] . Online: click here
[4] John Wight, "Muslim Ban, White supremacy and Fascism in Our Time," CounterPunch, [January 31, 2017]. Online: click here
[5] This theme is take up powerfully by a number of theorists. See C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000); Richard Sennett, The Fall of Public Man (New York: Norton, 1974); Zygmunt Bauman, In Search of Politics (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999); and Henry A. Giroux, Public Spaces, Private Lives (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001).
[6] Susan Dunn, "Trump's 'America First' has ugly echoes from U.S. History." CNN.Com (April 28, 2016). Online: click here
[7] Ibid., Susan Dunn.
[8] Ibid., Adam Gopnik, "Orwell's "1984" and Trump's America."
[9] Deepti Hajela and Michael Tarm, "Trump Travel ban sparks protests, airport chaos," The Hamilton Spectator (January 30, 2017), p. A6.
[10] This issue has been brilliantly explored by Zygmunt Bauman in a number of books. See, especially, Wasted Lives (London: Polity Press, 2004) and Identity: Conversations with Benedetto Vecchi (London: Polity Press, 2004).
[11] Marie Luise Knott, Unlearning With Hannah Arendt, trans. by David Dollenmayer, (Other Press: New York, NY. 2011, 2013), p.17
[12] Aaron Blake, "Kellyanne Conway says Donald Trump's Team has 'Alternative Facts." Which Pretty much says it all," Washington Post (January 22, 2017). Online: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/22/kellyanne-conway-says-donald-trumps-team-has-alternate-facts-which-pretty-much-says-it-all/?utm_term=.69ac680b5854
[13] Adam Gopnik, "Orwell's "1984" and Trump's America," The New Yorker, [January 27, 2017] Online: click here
[14] Michael M. Grynbaum, "Trump Strategist Stephen Bannon Says Media Should 'Keep Its Mouth Shut," New York Times (January 26, 2017), Online: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/business/media/stephen-bannon-trump-news-media.html?emc=edit_na_20170126&nl=breaking-news&nlid=15581699&ref=cta&_r=0
[15] Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Matthew Rosenberg, "With False Claims, Trump Attacks Media on Turnout and Intelligence Rift," New York Times (January 21, 2017). Online:
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