I was meeting up with people who were already at the end of the Science March, so I worked my way through the crowd quickly. Just the same, there were so many good protests signs that I couldn’t resist snapping photos of my favorites.
The march went from the ferry building to city hall. At city hall there were booths and tables from various science organizations. There were a lot of people there, not so crowded as the Women’s March (seriously I knew more women in my city who went to that than didn’t) but the flow of people went on and on. I never did see the end of it, even though I got there late and waited around for a while outside of Embarcadero station.
Even though I was moving through the crowd much faster than the other marchers (because I was trying to catch up with my friends) I always chanted along when I passed people shouting. Because I was moving through the crowd, I was able to help spread the chants that others had started. At one point, I carried a chant to new people so far I couldn’t hear the people who started it any more. This was a lot of fun.
Photos of Protest Signs from the San Francisco Science March
…and a few crowd shots, because why not?
Climate is the issue that personally got me out there marching, so that topic is heavily represented in my pics more than the march in general. It was a beautiful sunny day.
*≈*≈*≈*Click on any photo to embiggen ≈*≈*≈*≈*
Saw a few different versions of this. Clever protest sign, no?
Alternative facts are imaginary
Lab coats in abundance, of course.
The Lorax!
About that expanding toy thing on his head: the Hoberman Sphere.
I can’t resist the street art.
The devolution idea is overplayed, but this is brilliant.
I also like that one in the background that says “spray tans and chemistry courtesy of chemistry.”
Their hats are covered with resistors! Get it? Resistors! Science is punny.
The polar bears may go first, but this sign could just as easily have a human. #LeSign
For the climate march this weekend, I made a printable list of climate chants that I’m sharing with you here. I noticed that most of the marches recently (the Women’s March, the Science March) were very quiet. People brought terrific signs, but didn’t come prepared with chants. But I want those in power to quake in fear at the power of our voice!
These are my favorite climate justice chants, in two pages (perfect for printing front and back). I designed this list of climate justice chants specifically for passing out at rallies and marches:
It’s one color, no fancy photos
Every other chant is in italic, so it’s easier to see where you are on the page
Nice big font and lots of space between chants, but concisely presented in two columns
Not a PDF, instead using a .rtf so you can open it and quickly make your own modifications in any word processor
No breaks in songs, each chant fits in its column without flowing into the next column or page
There’s really way more than you’ll need for one rally, since most people stick with a few favorites they read over and over, so you may prefer to reduce it to one page of your very favorites.
My plan is not only to take this to the rally, but to print out extra copies and hand them out to people who chant along with me. Let’s make some noise for climate justice!
If you don’t have my printable list of chants, make one out of the signs you see. This one would work great as a chant. Image via Michael Fleshman
Give us climate targets
Not dirty tar sand markets
Keep that temperature down
Keep carbon underground
Governments grant permits
People grant permission
The planet! The planet! The planet’s on fire!
We don’t need no oil let the corporations burn!
Frack Wall Street, not our water!
Climate devastation will not be solved by corporations.
That’s bullshit, get off it. The enemy is profit!
Variation:
The enemy is profit. Together, we’ll stop it.
Climate devastation will not be solved by corporations!
Exxon-Mobil, BP, Shell take your filth and go to hell!
When the air we breath is under attack, What do we do? – Stand up, fight back!
When the water we drink is under attack, What do we do?– Stand up, fight back!
When the earth need is under attack, What do we do? – Stand up, fight back!
What do we do? – Stand up, fight back! – What do we do? – Stand up, fight back! – What do we do? – Stand up, fight back!
No more coal, no more oil
Keep your carbon in the soil!
U-G-L-YCorporate scum you cheat you lie
You UGLY, uh, uh, you UGLY
We will choose, we will decide
We will fight to turn the tide
Pollution and exploitation
Will not be solved by corporations.
That’s bulls*t! Get off it!
This land is not for profit!
Jobs at the Keystone? No, let’s can it!
There are no jobs on a dead planet!
Corporate greed
We must fight
Polluting earth is not a right!
What you see is what you get
And you ain’t seen nothing yet
Wall Street, Wall Street, hey —- you
We deserve a future too
Occupy! Shut ‘em down!
Oakland is a clean air town!
Hurricanes, storms and quakes.
How much more can we take?
Let’s fight back for our kids’ sake!
Take the system, shake shake shake!
Waters rise
Hear our cries
No more lies
It’s action time!
Get up, get down
Leave fossil fuels in the ground!
(To the tune of “I Love Rock N’ Roll”)
Stop that climate change,
Not another dime for destruction baby
We love renewables
Power from the wind and sunshine baby
We love planet Earth
Keep the tops on the mountains baby
We love mother earth
Not another dime to the tar sands baby
(To the tune of “We Will Rock You”)
We will we will BLOCK YOU, BLOCK YOU
We will we will STOP YOU! STOP YOU!
No more (clap clap) corporate greed
Renewables are what we need!
We increase our planet’s peril
Every time we pump a barrel.
Switch to LEAN, switch to GREEN
We want all our sources CLEAN
We who smelt it dealt it
Pass on the gas before we melt it
(To the tune of “OH-E-OH NO-OHH”, the flying monkey song from Wizard of Oz)
No Keystone, no-oh
No more coal, no-oh
Block Keystone oh-oh
BP Oil, no-oh
Go solar, go-oh
Organic go-oh
Frack our homes, no-oh
(To the tune of “It’s Getting Hot In Here”)
It’s getting hot in here
More than four hundred parts
I am getting so hot
I wanna turn my car off
[stop fossil fuels/demand real change]
It is time to turn the tide
And criminalize ecocide
No more subsidies
For fossil fuel companies
Once you frack,
you can’t go back!
When our planet’s under attack,
What do we do?
Stand Up Fight Back!
No more (clap clap) corporate greed
Renewables are what we need!
1234 kick pipelines out the door
5678 renewable power in every state!
Mix and match these as you please to make new forms. If a chant is making you fatigued, you might try adding claps, so you have a breathing space between chants. Bring maracas, drums, or whatever instruments get you excited.
Now that I’ve explained how we got here and the history of fascism, let’s take a closer look at the characteristics of fascism so you can recognize a fascist. Heck, you may be one!
Fascism in Detail
Though as a lefty I’m not for fascism, I do not intend the fascist label as a cudgel to bash those who think differently than I do. My aim is to create discussion and discussion can’t happen with disdain. Like most Americans, I was angry at middle America for supporting Trump. But now I am terrified. You win, middle America, now no one is laughing at you. Here is what I should have said when I was too busy laughing: a vote for Trump is a vote against democracy, and Donald Trump represents the growing fascist movement. His election is a threat the very foundation of our democracy.
So please, let’s talk about this.
Whether or not you prefer the label “fascist,” we must unite against this philosophy. If someone you know fits the descriptions below, they have fallen prey to a dangerous ideology that has put our democracy in danger.
Just as Americans trust conservatives to safeguard Americans from moving towards communism, the American left is the safeguard against fascism. The left has utterly failed in this role. We have failed to call out fascism when we see it, for fear of sounding extreme, for fear of breaking Godwin’s law, for fear of using labels, for fear of making life uncomfortable at Thanksgiving dinner or the work Christmas party.
That ends today. Because from here on out we’re going to call out fascism wherever we see it. Our country has voted for fascism; we can no longer afford to be polite.
I intend this page to be thorough, and it’s gotten long, so I am going to create a blog post for each section that addresses how each characteristic is reflected in the current white nationalist movement fronted by Donald Trump.
As stated previously, nationalism is the defining characteristic of fascism. All the other features of fascism are tied in one way or another to nationalism.
When the nation-state is threatened, people don’t abandon their nationalistic identities. But when people face scarcity, they naturally become tribal—they must protect their own, but they still identify their country as their “tribe.”
Nationalism makes fascism harder to identify. Communism everywhere looks the same, but fascism always looks like the country it is born in. Fascist Italy sought to return to the glory of Rome. Nazi Germans longed for a third reich, but most Americans couldn’t even tell you what the first two were.
But American fascism must glorify the trappings of Americana: picket fences, apple pie, classic rock and the nuclear family. The music, food, clothing of other cultures can be offensive to the fascist because they feel their own culture is under attack.
Regardless If You’re Conservative or Progressive…
Patriots are engaged citizens who understand that part of shaping policy may require criticism or even protest. A fascist believes that no one should be allowed to speak out against the government and those who do should be met with violence.
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[learn_more caption =”Fascists Always Have a Scapegoat”]
Fascists Always Have a Scapegoat
This is the second-most important feature of fascism, behind nationalism. Other political groups may fear their country has fallen into disgrace, but fascism always aims the blame on outsiders who are changing the definition of what it means to be American. Because fascists fear their culture is being threatened, they are hostile to immigrants and those who don’t fit the nationalist ideal (e.g. queers, druggies, African-Americans, etc.). Under the pressures of real economic hardship, the fascist believes the problem can be solved by getting rid of of some undesirable group. Even people who who are against racism in a general sense may turn to scapegoating when they feel their country is changing in frightening ways. Times are tough and they have to protect their own.
After Trump’s deportation of immigrants (and after the refugees are sent home to die) doesn’t cure America’s economic woes, will the anti-Muslim and anti-Mexican movements be stopped? Or will they begin to target Mexicans and Muslims who were born here? Once a group has determined to spurn its own citizens, there is no “away” to send them to. The next step is for them to be imprisoned or murdered. Because fascism cures nothing, the quest for purity is a downward spiral that ends in genocide.
Regardless If You’re Conservative or Progressive…
The American patriot is proud of the words on the Statue of Liberty, “give me your tired, your poor huddled masses,” and proud to be a safe haven built on promise and human rights. The fascists shrink the definition of human rights so that it applies not to all people, or all Americans, but to an ever-smaller tribe.
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[learn_more caption =”The Cult of Authoritarian Personality”]
When this innate instinct is triggered, the person seeks out the protection of a strong leader who promises a return to a better time, to make the country great again, by purging it of foreigners, leftists or other undesirable people. To the fascist, it’s OK that their leader is a bully. They believe he must be mean and strong in order to protect them. Masculinity and cruelty are praised because they feel in need of protection.
The Cult of Personality
Their leader is a father figure, both disciplinarian and protector. Of course every president fills this role, but as a revolutionary the fascist leader comes from outside the political establishment. Fascism is in reaction to the failure of the state to provide for the people, both Democrat and Republican.
The fascist leader offers easy solutions. A showman, he uses simple, superlative language. Bureaucracy? Regulation? The fascist is suspicious of any policy that takes a book’s worth of text. If it can’t be understood by the “common man,” it’s probably malarkey. Thus, fascists don’t unite around a policy or economic plan. Rather they entrust their future to a leader who promises a new golden age, using whatever might is necessary. This leader must captivate the people or they won’t fall for the snake oil of scapegoating immigrants and minorities.
Fascists Are Reactionary
American Fascists yearn to make America white again
Frightened of a changing world, the American fascist wants to return to a time when the American Dream felt possible, and working men had pension plans and two-car garages and enough money to raise a family. The American fascist believes minorities and elites are the reason this dream is broken, and since those people aren’t “true Americans” the best solution is to free us of their influence…by imprisoning, deporting or executing them.
Regardless If You’re Conservative or Progressive…
A patriot knows there is no man who is above the rule of law, a fascist believes their leader has the authority to ignore and reshape the law as he pleases. The patriot doesn’t see the past through rose-colored glasses. Nor is the patriot willing to sacrifice fundamental rights to return America to her greatest glory.
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[learn_more caption =”Fascism Is Populist …but Anti-Intellectual”]
Fascism Is Populist…but Anti-Intellectual
The best thing fascism has going for it is that it’s a movement of the people. This was hard to understand when reading our history books. How could people advocate genocide and authoritarianism? (The answers: anger [at their “stolen” country] and fear [a strong leader will protect them.]) Populism is a wonderful thing, but the philosophy and emotion of fascism is like an angry mob. They disdain measured, rational responses and prefer swift acts violence that prove our nation’s strength.
Fascists Disdain Intellectuals
Fascists (both historically and presently) tend to be from the shrinking middle class, such as small business owners. Despite this, fascists tend to idealize the hard-working salt-of-the-earth common man, ready for action. The opposite of the common man is the intellectual: lazy, entitled, sitting in his ivory tower, with his cushy taxpayer-paid job, making new rules the patriot must follow. It’s easy to disdain those who don’t trust science and reason. But can you blame them? Trusting the elites led their empire to crumble and fall. “A new study” always seems to contradict last week’s study. So they don’t trust studies. They don’t respect the authority of scientists or professors.
Historically both Mussolini and Hitler were fans of action for action’s sake. In Mussolini’s “Doctrine of Fascism,” he says “Fascism desires an active man, one engaged in activity with all his energies: it desires a man conscious of the difficulties that exist in action and ready to face them.” The spirit of think-first-ask-questions-later doesn’t align with quiet study and contemplation.
As fascism scholar Robert Paxton said,
It’s…the aggressive style, the assertion of strength and the image presented of somebody who’s not going to be bothered by little things like the rule of law or political correctness or being polite, and will actually get things done.
Regardless If You’re Conservative or Progressive…
The culmination of the Age of Enlightenment, a period of history that sought to improve the world through reason, culminated in the American Revolution. The patriot wants our president to make decisions based on research, not hunches. Regardless of our party, Americans value what our scientists, academics and scholars can do to make the world better.
To be clear, most revolutionary movements advocate violence. The fascist movement only endorses violence when it is in service of obedience to the leader, as a punishment for minorities, or in the name of the nation.
Fascists Believe in Obedience
Like this but not a joke
The fascist believes society is falling apart. They see too much decadence, too many loose moral values, too much materialism. The society must be punished, severely if necessary, like a father disciplines a naughty child.
To the extreme nationalist, total devotion must be entrusted in the protectors of the state: the military and police. Those who do not obey deserve punishment. Thus if the media or protestors criticize *America, they deserve bad things to happen to them. America is not to be questioned.
As a revolutionary movement, fascists do not obey those in power before them. Thus plenty of fascists are happy to criticize Obama and every member of the Republican party. The fascist doesn’t see themselves as represented by the establishment of either party.
Fascists Reward Violence Among Their Followers
Fascists believe its a dog-eat-dog world. It’s a movement born of people coping with the fall of empire. Fascists have suffered, and they want it to stop, even if it means that someone else must suffer in the process. Some of them see violence as a temporary, unpleasant necessity to purify the nation, so it can be reborn great again. Others believe in social Darwinism, and view liberal ideas about fairness as naive.
They were promised an American dream, feel entitled to it, and that dream seems increasingly impossible. Thus when their compatriots embrace violent rhetoric or action, they are praised.
When many recoil in horror from the violence at Trump rallies, collectively Trump supporters feel stronger. It doesn’t bother them when Trump hints second Amendment advocates should murder journalists, because he’s on their side. He’s protecting them from a harsh world.
Fascists Glorify the Military, Police
As the arbiters of obedience, police are idealized in a fascist state. In an altercation between police and citizens, the police are always right. Police violence against undesirable people is thought to be deserved regardless of whether or not a crime has been committed. Undesirable people include protesters, minorities, immigrants, queers and political opposition. They believe authority in general and police in particular should be respected and obeyed. They have nothing to fear from the police, which is just an arm of the state, their father/protector from the barbarians at the gate.
Regardless If You’re Conservative or Progressive…
The patriot is protected from the violence of the state by the Bill of Rights. Regardless of your political party, you know you must grant these to each and every American. To the fascist, the Bill of Rights is just a piece of paper.
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[learn_more caption=”Disagreement Is Treason”]
Fascists Are Against the Press
One of the dangers of extreme nationalists is that they will not tolerate any criticism of their country. This puts them at odds with journalists looking to expose their scapegoating, violence and lies. Moreover, because fascists are anti-intellectual, they will turn against any media that doesn’t parrot the narrative of their leader. If the people running our country are going to spout lies, journalists will be their natural enemies.
This is why the free press is so critical to a functioning democracy. They act as an additional, but independent, check on the government.
Try to imagine what it must have felt like to see our candidate mocked at every turn on The Late Show, The Daily Show, SNL and basically every show that touches on social commentary. Try to imagine every news show (save Fox of course) saying over and over your candidate couldn’t possibly win, because Americans couldn’t be that stupid. Bad journalism has engendered the idea that American journalism can’t be trusted.
Regardless If You’re Conservative or Progressive…
“Freedom of the press” is not a nicety. The patriot understands that meddlesome journalists are critical to a functioning democracy. Fascists cover their ears when they hear any voice that counters the view of their leader.
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“Hey, That’s Just Like, Your Opinion Man…”
Please do your own research and get back to me. If you find points that dispute mine, don’t be shy to share them.
I have a degree in sociology, and I’ve read some books here and there, but these are complicated issues no doubt. With the rise of Trump, I finally feel like I really “get” fascism. Before, I could never see how people stood by while leaders like Hitler and Mussolini killed millions. I could never understand why so many people would turn to racism as a solution. But seeing the current moment, and seeing my own friends and family support Trump, it’s all so clear to me now. People are frightened of the future and the economy, and they’ve been swindled by someone offering easy solutions. But there are no easy solutions. The jobs are not coming back. And even if they did, the effects of climate change or going to wreak havoc on the economy. The future looks grim. But scapegoating isn’t the answer.
Some Americans think that because the Nazi party was the National Socialist Party that means fascism is a left-wing movement. That’s why I began this series on American fascism by taking care to define communism, capitalism and socialism. Unfortunately history doesn’t fit into tidy little black and white boxes. Let’s unpack the history of socialism in fascist Italy and Germany.
The Rise of National Socialism (the Nazi Party)
It’s hard to fathom now, but at the time of the rise of Hitler and Mussolini, socialism was trendy. People all over were angry about the effects of industrialization and feeling a revolutionary sentiment. Socialist union organizing had won benefits like higher wages and better working conditions. By the first World War, the Socialist Democratic Party of Germany had over a million people, the largest political party in the world at that time.
On the other hand, communism hadn’t brought rainbows and utopia to Russia. Some of the radicals who embraced socialism started to wonder if society’s woes weren’t due to class warfare (as the socialists and communists claimed) but the inferiority of foreigners.
Hitler claimed the Nazis were neither left nor right, but a “third way,” a new option for radicals dissatisfied with left-wing options. Thus, fascism is best understood as a reaction against the rise of radical leftist movements like communism and anarchism. Historian Richard Evans again: “In the eyes of the right, communism and social democracy amounted to two sides of the same coin, and the one seemed no less a threat than the other” (Those I know on the right feel the same way today—hence their fear of democratic socialist Bernie Sanders.)
Spread the word.
The communists organized community members around the notion that workers were part of a common class; it was rich against poor, claimed these Marxist types. The fascists started out as people attending these socialist meetings (which, recall, were the largest political party at the time) who developed some different ideas about who was to blame. The “us against them” isn’t rich against poor, they claimed, but “insiders versus outsiders.”
The Marxist notion of class had become the dominant worldview, and fascists reacted against the very idea of class. Think of how today’s Fox News anchors accuse people of “class warfare,” the underlying notion being that class itself doesn’t exist, and therefore pitting rich against poor is to make enemies of who should be allies. To a fascist complaints of racism/classism are just ways for a different dog to get ahead in a dog-eat-dog world. Fascism was born out of a rejection of everything Marxists stand for.
Hitler kept the label “National Socialist” because socialism was popular, but once in power he aligned with the capitalists…in both cases it seems Hitler advocated whatever would gain him more power, rather than some economic preference. Though he continued to call the party National Socialism, any remaining socialists were expelled, violently, on the Night of the Long Knives. Ultimately Hitler’s National Socialist Party wasn’t any more socialist than The People’s Republic of China is run by the people, or the Republic of North Korea is a republic. And regardless of economic preference, the entire Nazi philosophy is a checklist or extreme-right ideology (see below).
Is Fascism Left or Right? Mussolini Had Strong Feelings on the Topic
Don’t take my word for it: Mussolini, the first and founding fascist, was explicit. In Doctrine of Fascism, Mussolini said, “Fascism has taken up an attitude of complete opposition to the doctrines of liberalism, both in the political field and the field of economics.” Here’s what Mussolini thought of liberal politics:
Such a conception of life makes Fascism the complete opposite of that doctrine. The base of the so-called scientific and Marxian Socialism, the materialist conception of history; according to which the history of human civilization can be explained simply through the conflict of interests among the various social groups and by the change and development in the means and instruments of production…And above all Fascism denies that class war can be the preponderant force in the transformation of society.
Mussolini backed up his words with the Blackshirts, who were best known for starting fist fights with communists and socialists. The Nazis copied this with their Brownshirts, also picking fights with communists, socialists, and anarchists (essentially, the radical left) and targeting Jews. In both cases, the tyrant rose to power through the support of gangs that beat up suspected liberals. For Mussolini, this was everything, whereas Hitler decided “insiders versus outsiders” should be defined by race.
Jews were associated above all with the most modern and progressive developments in society, culture and the economy. It was developments such as these that made the Jews the target for disgruntled and unscrupulous agitators…those who felt pushed aside by the Juggernaut of industrialization and yearned for a simpler, more ordered, more secure, more hierarchical society such as they imagined had existed in the not-to-distant past, the Jews symbolized cultural, financial and social modernity.
You can definitely point to things Hitler’s Third Reich did or said that were capitalist and socialist, just as most economies are some mixture of both ( e.g. are Americans socialist for having social security?). But despite calling his party the National Socialist party, the Third Reich was a radical right-wing movement, hell-bent on crushing the growth and popularity of socialism.
The Nazis and the Italian fascists were known to seek out and assault or kill communists, socialists and anarchists. If it’s unclear to you, read Mussolini’s own words, at the link above. The essay’s only four pages, and in that space he claims liberalism is a religion, pacifism is a lie, and that German nationalism proved liberalism is a failure. Yeah, real lefty that one.
Bottom line: don’t conflate economy with system of government. The philosophical yearnings of fascists are easily aligned with the aims of the far-right: trust in the nation, traditional/conservative values, unfettered patriotism, respect for authority, dislike of immigrants, social Darwinism/meritocracy…seriously that’s like a list of things that people on the left are known to oppose!
Ultimately, if you can’t see how fascist Italy and Nazi Germany were right-wing regimes, I urge you to read the philosophy of fascism in this series. I’d be interested to see how you can claim these things are liberal. But if we can disagree on the name and agree to oppose the philosophy I’m describing, we can still be aligned.
In the following posts, I’ll go into detail on each of the characteristics of fascism, and give examples of how we can see it on the rise in the good old USA.
But What About Democracy?
Democracy hasn’t fared well with revolutionary ideologies. Both communism and fascism have failed to maintain democratic societies, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Now that America has elected it’s first fascist, we get to try again. Let’s hope American democracy can prove history wrong.
A Women’s March is by nature, a mom’s march too. Love these hand-made protest signs from the girls. They ar’t carrying their mother’s signs, they have their own ideas to express. <3
Protests have personalities. The School of the Americas protest is somber and artistic. World Bank protests are rowdy and volatile. The G8 protest in Georgia was lively, but impotent, because the protesters were so far from the action. After a few decades of being woke, it’s easy to forget this, to feel like a protest is an object that you’re required to interact with in constructing social change. But a march is not a tool, it’s a swarm.
The Women’s Marches in Oakland and San Francisco had a strange personality. It wavered between hope and exhaustion. It felt like the mother of a delinquent; she’s stayed up all night and prayed and pressed his suit but it’s a long trial and her son has been guilty before…like America, we love you, we’ll always be there for you, but you need to get your shit together. The Women’s March of Oakland felt like the mother in Eddie Murphy’s old routine, shouting, Don’t make me put on my red shoes and come down there.
What a beautiful vulva!
My friend Jordan, an Oakland nurse, provided breakfast and a meet point at 8:30. At ten we walked down to the official start point of the Oakland Women’s March, but even standing in the block in front of that, there were women with signs overflowing blocks ahead of us. The first hour the march barely moved, because there was a never-ending influx of traffic coming of the BART trains ahead of us, creating a bottleneck. It is frustrating to be at a march that isn’t marching. Marches should be energetic. But the reason for the lack of movement was that everyone and her sister came out, so the same thing that caused frustration also created hope. This turned out to be the recurring theme of the day.
I felt it later that day at the rally in San Francisco too. This time we were the ones coming off the train, creating a bottleneck. We had to work through a massive crowd to get to a spot where we could hear who was speaking, but it was too crowded to get any closer. We weren’t even close enough to see the stage itself. So we stood in the rain, shoulder to shoulder, room to hold either a sign or an umbrella, but not both. It was equally miserable and inspiring: so many people!
New estimates put the count at 100,000. Almost everyone I know went, it’s all anyone on my feed has been talking about for days.
It was a quiet march. There were people doing chants, but sometimes the chants didn’t take off, or when they did, they didn’t travel far. People were determined to be there and excited about the turnout, but they didn’t have the energy to shout. The march expressed itself though, with the myriad clever and lovely signs. I’ve been to well-funded protests where unions and nonprofits hand out pre-made signs, and the protest becomes a sea of tidy fonts and clear messaging. But at the Women’s March, most of the signs were hand-drawn. I loved to think about these women all over town, making their signs the night before, and I loved to see women interacting and high-fiving in appreciation of these signs.
This little girl was so happy. A lifelong feminist born on this day, no doubt!
Any Women’s March is by nature a march of mothers. There were so many happy young feminists there. And a mother’s march is peaceful, safe. In fact the Oakland PD reported zero arrests for the Oakland Women’s March, and there were no arrests at the giant Washington DC Women’s March either! Zero arrests! There was no civil disobedience, no direct action, no black block…I’m not opposed to civil disobedience, but it is notable when so many people gather peacefully.
Here are my favorite protest signs from the Oakland Women’s March in the morning, and the San Francisco Women’s March that started at three.
Protest Signs from the Oakland Women’s March
Click to launch slideshow and view images full-sized
Love this chick with her cane and her pussy power booty flap (see next).
YAAS
Feminist boys make my heart sing.
one of those moments where I thought she put more thought into her sign than Trump puts into running our country.
We need climate action, not delusion bullshit. The latter a reference to Trump claiming that climate change is a Chinese conspiracy
Oakland Women’s March 2017 photo by Kat Zigmont
Oakland Women’s March 2017 photo by Kat Zigmont
Oakland Women’s March 2017 photo by Kat Zigmont
Nice font! I like the idea of cutting the letters out of paper. Good way to get huge, bright letters.
Oakland Women’s March 2017 photo by Kat Zigmont
These kinds of puppets are common at School of the Americas protests and anti-free-trade protests. I think if we hadn’t been at the very front of both marches we’d have seen more of the elaborate puppets.
There were a ton of kids at the march. It was peaceful and happy and all the children looked happy and unafraid.
Lady Liberty, mother of Girl Power.
Photo by my friend Kat Zigmont; I knew she’d want one with this mural because like me she’s obsessed with sharing street art on Instagram.
Oakland Women’s March 2017 photo by Kat Zigmont.
Oakland Women’s March 2017 photo by Kat Zigmont.
Oakland Women’s March 2017 photo by Kat Zigmont.
“Liar, fascist, racist, molestor, con man…” this sign lists all of Trump’s flaws, with a speech bubble that says, “I can’t fit everything wrong with this jerk on one sign!”
Oakland Women’s March by Lake Merritt
Oakland Women’s March 2017 photo by Kat Zigmont.
One of my favorites. So simple, and so true.
Who needs a pussy hat when you can wear a uterus?
Photo by Kat Zigmont
Let’s hope these women stay woke AF!
Wonder Woman for public education
Even better that’s she pregnant! One of my favorites.
Oakland Women’s March 2017 photo by Kat Zigmont.
Funny logo. ^_^
The crowd around the end of the march, near Frank Ogawa Plaza
Mostly posting this so I’ll remember to look up her website later. 😉
Good idea for a rainy protest: paint on an umbrella!
Oakland neighbors making signs great again.
This tweet: https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/266034630820507648?lang=en
RESIST…together
Another favorite.
Her sign is literally a painting. She definitely put more work into her sign than Trump has given to his health care policy.
I don’t know if these hats are part of the protest but they’re nifty.
Long line to get on public transit, on our way to the next march in San Francisco
Each leg of the spider’s body is one of Trump’s cabinet picks.
This meme I just always
Not a lot of cops, but damn, that’s a serious weapon. Wonder if it has rubber bullets or live ammo.
Oakland Women’s March protestor with sign: This is not the underdog I was rooting for!
Oakland Women’s March protestors with funny signs
A Women’s March is by nature, a mom’s march too. Love these hand-made protest signs from the girls. They ar’t carrying their mother’s signs, they have their own ideas to express. <3
Oakland cafe gets in the spirit of things
What a beautiful vulva!
Same costume from behind
“Everyone must ride” ….shivers
This little girl was so happy. A lifelong feminist born on this day, no doubt!
Not sure this is true though.
The woman in the black hat gave us post-it notes to fill out with why we are marching. The little girl in the tiger had just put her post it up when this photo was taken. Great idea to interact with the crowd!
But wait, there’s more! I don’t have as many photos of the San Francisco march at three, because I was charging my phone and it was raining. But check out the video of the dance party we passed.
Photos of the San Francisco Women’s March
Click on any photo to see it full-sized.
The line coming up from Civic Center BART kept erupting into cheers when people at the top would see the crowd coming up the escalator.
City workers (or volunteers?) keeping the street clear, in anticpation of the 3pm march about to start.
Not a lot of cops, but damn, that’s a serious weapon. Wonder if it has rubber bullets or live ammo.
This meme I just always
This dance party looks a lot more fun than us marching in the rain.
So great! Sign reads: “we’re not sending our best to Washington. They’re bigots, they’re narcissists, they’re pussy grabbers…and some, I assume, are good people?”
Normally I talk to cops at protests but that gun is a bit intimidating.
Short Video of Protest Dance Party in Market Street at the San Francisco Women’s March
There’s a growing fascist movement in America that we aren’t prepared to grapple with. People support fascist ideologies while thinking they are opposing fascism by supporting “the All-American Way” (for example, this exchange). Meanwhile, opposition on the left uses the word indiscriminately to bash anything they disagree with, or worse, they lack the knowledge to identify it at all. I used to laugh when my right-wing friends shared images of Obama as a fascist, but that was a mistake. We have to talk about this. This is the first in a series of long reads that is intended to give you—regardless of your shade on the political spectrum—the ability to recognize and discuss fascism.
The Myth of Progress
Fascism Isn’t Synonymous with Tyranny (What Fascism Isn’t)
To many Americans, fascism is just another word for despotism, or any moves away from democracy. But fascism is something more specific, a philosophy defined by a particular powder keg of values. This error is commonplace because American history is always taught in public school as the narrative of the triumph of capitalist American democracy against all forms of tyranny or revolution. Americans against the British Imperialists, Americans against the Nazis, Americans against the Communists, America against the terrorists. Thus it’s is only natural to think of fascism like so:
I’m defining each of these words, so we can be absolutely clear on what is wrong with this chart, and how this way of thinking has aided the slip into fascism. I want to make sure we are all on the same page, because disagreement over basic definitions has made dialogue impossible.
We Often Confuse Economy with Government
First, and I don’t want to spend too much time on this, but FIRST, capitalism and socialism are not systems of governance. They are economic systems. They tend to be associated with certain forms of government, but don’t have to be. People are constantly assuming that a capitalist country is democratic like ours, or that a socialist country must be despotic. This is incorrect.
When the youth of America embraced the democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, of course that’s scary to any American who sees socialism as coupled to tyranny. I’m not saying this to advocate for a particular economic system, it’s just a fact that the way the country is governed and how free it is is not determined by its economic model. You can have capitalist communists, like China. You have socialist democracies like Denmark.
Capitalism
An economic system that embraces competition, with the belief that the most hard-working and clever will naturally rise to the top and reap the most rewards. (Therefore, rules and regulation are unnecessary.)
Socialism
An economic system that favors dividing resources based on need, with the belief that looking out for those at the bottom is more important than ensuring those at the top get what they earned.
Pure socialism and pure capitalism are rare. Most economies combine elements of both. For example, though America is capitalist, popular socialist programs include social security and Medicare.
Why Socialism Is Associated with the Left/Capitalism Associated with the Right
Because socialism must be associated with bigger government, higher taxes and social welfare, it tends to be linked to leftists governance. Likewise, because capitalism favors small government, lower taxes and social Darwinism, it tends to be associated with conservative governance. I think most conservatives would agree with this.
More importantly, socialists view their country, in the words of neocons, as “the mommy state.” Indeed, in Don’t Think of an Elephant, George Lakeoff’s psychological research shows that people view the world through metaphorical frames. Our first exposure to political moral worldviews is through the governance of our family. Liberals want the country run with maternal values: nurturing, listening, providing—while conservatives prefer a father archetype—punishing, testing, rewarding. Lefties want to take care of the poor, conservatives want to teach them discipline, force them to straighten up and fly right. Lakeoff says,
In the strict father family, father knows best. He knows right from wrong and has the ultimate authority to make sure his children and his spouse do what he says, which is taken to be what is right…When his children disobey, it is his moral duty to punish them painfully enough so that, to avoid punishment, they will obey him (do what is right) and not just do what feels good. Through physical discipline they are supposed to become disciplined, internally strong, and able to prosper in the external world. What if they don’t prosper? That means they are not disciplined, and therefore cannot be moral, and so deserve their poverty. This reasoning shows up in conservative politics in which the poor are seen as lazy and undeserving, and the rich as deserving their wealth. Responsibility is thus taken to be personal responsibility not social responsibility. What you become is only up to you; society has nothing to do with it. You are responsible for yourself, not for others — who are responsible for themselves.
Thus history looks more like this:
[box]
Right ←——→ Left
Capitalist Socialist
[/box]
This isn’t a chart of progress. Which direction history should move depends entirely on your values and beliefs about human nature. With me so far?
Revolutionary Movements: Communism and Fascism
The farther left a person is, the larger they are going to want that social safety net. The biggest social safety net would be “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” That’s what communists want: a government that strives to make things equal between various classes, by force if necessary. Socialism is the means by which that equality is enforced. Thus socialism is a critical element of communism, but not all socialist countries are communists.
Communism
A left-leaning system of government based on Karl Marx’s idea that 1) In in an industrial society, machines will do the jobs of labor, which will create 2) an imbalance of supply and demand with leads to 3) the devaluing and exploitation of the labor force, which will continue and worsen until 4) the workers take over the state.
Essentially, Communists are not only for the overthrow of the government, they see it as part of the inevitable march of history. Industrialization is seen as a lever that will press on the working class until they eventually break (revolt). The end goal of communism is a nation that enforces total equality between its citizens.
Now our chart looks like this:
Yes I know right is on the left; the whole point is that it isn’t to be read directionally.
But what if a person is ready to revolt, but they don’t want to enforce equality? What if they believe the whole idea of class is a lie to take from the hard workers and give to lazy roustabouts? What if they believe discipline is more important than nurturing? In short, what does a right-wing revolution look like? Fascism is the answer.
What the Heck is Fascism?
As communism is linked to leftist revolution, fascism is strongly linked to the far-right. This gets back to George Lakeoff’s metaphorical distinction I mentioned previously—leftists tend to see the role of the state as protective and nurturing, a motherland, whether they are true blue democrats or armchair communists. The right sees the role of the state as the fatherland: there to discipline wrong-doers and provide jobs for hardworking Americans, whether they are moderate Republicans or members of the tea party, or fascists.
The strict father logic extends further. The basic idea is that authority is justified by morality (the strict father version), and that, in a well-ordered world, there should be (and traditionally has been) a moral hierarchy in which those who have traditionally dominated should dominate. The hierarchy is: God above Man, Man above Nature, The Disciplined (Strong) above the Undisciplined (Weak), The Rich above the Poor, Employers above Employees, Adults above Children, Western culture above other cultures, Our Country above other countries. The hierarchy extends to: Men above women, Whites above Nonwhites, Christians above nonChristians, Straights above Gays.
Lakeoff will be the first to agree that not all conservatives think men are above women or whites are above nonwhites, but there is a common agreement among conservatives that some people are better and more deserving than others. Fascists take this to the extreme. They believe that might makes right; if terrible things happen to minorities/weirdos/protesters (the mysterious “other”) they are getting what they deserve.
Nationalism is the most important defining characteristic of fascism. Fascists believe that their country and their people are better than any other. Therefore, foreigners are physically and morally inferior. They believe that problems in their society are due to the corruption, laziness and decadence of these supposedly inferior people. Therefore, the only way to succeed is to get rid of these people, either by deportation, separation or murder. Fascists believe a better society comes through purity. Therefore, fascism is inherently discriminatory.
Fascism is nationalism taken to the extreme. In a fascist society, the state is always right, and never to be questioned. Therefore any criticism of the state should be punished (Note: I’m not saying other forms of government don’t oppress detractors, only that fascists are always in favor of doing so). The media and art exist to exalt the state and sing its praises. By criticizing your country, you betray it. “We’re number 1!” say fascists, and any other message is treason. Therefore, fascism always leads to censorship and oppression of dissent.
Fascists put total trust in a leader who is chosen to be the voice of the people. As a revolutionary movement, fascism is suspicious of the establishment and existing political parties, whom they see as untrustworthy elites. Though it is conservative, it is not Republican. The alt-right has hitched its cart to the GOP as a way to gain power, and they have some views in common, but they do not see themselves as of it (just as how many socialists vote Democrat but don’t see themselves as aligned with the Democratic party).
Now we can finish that chart.
This is why lefties get so pissed off when neocons refer to anyone on the left as fascist. Fascism is a radical right movement in direct opposition to everything the left stands for. Call Obama a socialist, call him a communist, call him a damned pinko. I won’t agree, he’s barely even a moderate, but calling him a fascist is patently absurd. If you want to say someone is an extreme leftist and you call them a fascist, you’ve already lost the argument.
Of course most conservatives aren’t fascists, just as most liberals aren’t communists. Not all conservatives are radical! There will always be extremists in every group, more so as suffering leads people to desperation.
This is just a short description of fascism, I’m going to go into detail on each aspect. But first…
“But What About National Socialism?”
I’ve not at all addressed the opposition to this argument, which goes like this: “But wait, if socialists tend to lean left, and fascists are on the right, why were the Nazis the National Socialist party?” That’s a perfectly good question, which is why in my next post I unpack the history of fascism and why the Nazis called themselves socialists.
*Because this series is focused on American fascism, examples are given in that context. In another context you might say Italian, German, Japanese, etc. fascism.
This is the new Future Is Fiction, but this site has about tens years of content. To see the old stuff, please go to futureisfiction.com/blog. Or you can navigate by category:
![clever protest sign: Alternative fact are [the square root of negative one]](https://futureisfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Science_March_2017_San_Francisco_protest-4-22-2017-1-36-20-PM.jpg)
![Dude in an astronaut helmit's sign: [fists up] "Defiance for science"](https://futureisfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Science_March_2017_San_Francisco_protest-4-22-2017-1-47-25-PM.jpg)
It is time to turn the tide
The best thing fascism has going for it is that it’s a movement of the people. This was hard to understand when reading our history books. How could people advocate genocide and authoritarianism? (The answers: anger [at their “stolen” country] and fear [a strong leader will protect them.]) Populism is a wonderful thing, but the philosophy and emotion of fascism is like an angry mob. They disdain measured, rational responses and prefer swift acts violence that prove our nation’s strength.
One of the dangers of extreme nationalists is that they will not tolerate any criticism of their country. This puts them at odds with journalists looking to expose their scapegoating, violence and lies. Moreover, because fascists are anti-intellectual, they will turn against any media that doesn’t parrot the narrative of their leader. If the people running our country are going to spout lies, journalists will be their natural enemies.
It’s hard to fathom now, but at the time of the rise of Hitler and Mussolini, 
Bottom line: don’t conflate economy with system of government. The philosophical yearnings of fascists are easily aligned with the aims of the far-right: trust in the nation, traditional/conservative values, unfettered patriotism, respect for authority, dislike of immigrants, social Darwinism/meritocracy…seriously that’s like a list of things that people on the left are known to oppose!
First, and I don’t want to spend too much time on this, but FIRST, capitalism and socialism are not systems of governance. They are economic systems. They tend to be associated with certain forms of government, but don’t have to be. People are constantly assuming that a capitalist country is democratic like ours, or that a socialist country must be despotic. This is incorrect.
This is why lefties get so pissed off when neocons refer to anyone on the left as fascist. Fascism is a radical right movement in direct opposition to everything the left stands for. Call Obama a socialist, call him a communist, call him a damned pinko. I won’t agree, he’s barely even a moderate, but calling him a fascist is patently absurd. If you want to say someone is an extreme leftist and you call them a fascist, you’ve already lost the argument.