Dimensionally Barrett

As I’ve been writing this commentary on Snyder’s work, it’s become obvious how much he has written is happening in real time. The actuality of the crumbling of the United States as a democracy is playing out in conformity to standard authoritarian playbook rules.  In short order, we’ve witnessed the suppression of free speech on university campuses and threats to remove federal funding; a law firm targeted by the occupier in the White House that had led the prosecution against him for his crimes; and most recently, not one but two flights carrying alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to be deported without due process to a prison in El Salvador by invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. Judge James E. Boasberg of the DC district court agreed with the ACLU that the act only applies to “enemy nations” and ordered the planes to return to the U.S.  The administration has admitted that it was ignoring both due process and the court’s order. The regime might posture that the “Democrats...

“We have no other land, that’s why we suffer for it.” - A Palestinian Woman in   No Other Land First, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences deserves respect for choosing   No Other Land   for Best Documentary Feature. Second, the River Oaks Theater in Houston deserves a vote of thanks for bringing it to the public when it cannot seem to find a distributor in this country.  I need some more time to myself to sit with this and process this document. I really don’t feel like this is one of those films that gains in being analyzed as a film; it’s power is in its immediacy and what it shows us.  Let me be clear about something else; being against Israel’s policies of occupation, erasure, and let’s call it what it is, genocide, is not antisemitic. Yuval Abraham, one of the film’s co-directors, is Israeli ano of course, faced backlash for his support of the Palestinians. But the story is Basel Adra’s, if we’re looking for a central figure. Adra has ...

By now, many of us are aware of the various “dog whistles” in use along the political spectrum. However, there are a few that bear special attention. Snyder points to “exception” and “extremism” as two major terms to keep an eye out for. An authoritarian will not flinch at declaring a state of emergency and use that as an exceptional circumstances to suspend the rule of law.  As for extremists and extremism, this refers to any and all whose views are in opposition to the regime’s. Anyone holding those views is a de facto extremist.  “ Extremism   certainly sounds bad, and governments often try to make it sound worse by using the word   terrroriism   in the same sentence.” However, as Snyder points out, “there is no doctrine called  extremism .” Again, tyrants only use the term to isolate and target those whom they deem outside   their   mainstream. Dissidents in the twentie...

Snyder points out that what’s happening in the United States is part of a larger trend and we are seeing where there is push-back against what is happening here. But the trend remains; the shifting of power balances to the right, to the so-called “strong men”. However, we see cases where liberalism is winning and support of leaders who stand up to the current occupant of the White House is growing. That said, what of people in the U.S. itself? To be sure, the incumbent did not win by a landslide and indeed, does not have a mandate. However, that has not stopped the onslaught of his executive orders and he has been directly empowered by the Legislature, either explicitly or tacitly, by silent complicity.  As I write, USAID has been dismantled, the Department of Education is being disassembled, the Center for Disease Control has seen valuable information scrubbed from its site and heavy firings so that a response to the measles outbre...

How’s everyone doing today? How was your weekend? Mine was a learning period. On Saturday, a number of people met for a Democracy Cafe sponsored by Bayou Blue Democrats . Most skewed older, but it was a good mix of people across demographics of the city. A number of discussions came up about the fraught nature of the times we’re living in but two things were readily apparent. One is that this is a group of people who are taking the right steps in calling their reps (and emailing) and if they themselves are not organizers, they get out and protest and stand with others.  Another thing I noticed is that just about everyone feels distant from leadership in Washington. Part of this is being in a state run by right wing conservatives who are, if not in lock-step with the White House, not too far from it. Mostly, though, what came out was the lack of confidence in Schumer or Jeffries as the leaders of the Dems in the House and Senate. To be suer, the house of Representatives has tended t...