Just watch what is happening in France to understand what is going to happen in the U.S. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, sold himself as a radical democrat for the people, but he is governing like a monarchy. He has culled the ranks of local authorities, slashed local budgets, and replaced the housing tax that funds local government with a promise of a block grant.
French history teaches that when a monarch oppresses the people, the people revolt. France’s mayors gathered for a congress in Paris last week. They bristled at being labeled spendthrifts and set themselves in opposition to Macron. They will find allies in workers’ unions and the media, since Macron hasn’t held press conference since his inauguration.
This is just some of the things that are happening in the U.S. Our people were promised things by our new occupant of the White House is now acting like a monarch. A lot of the people who voted for him are starting to see just what they really voted for and it was not job creation or rebuilding our infrastructure or draining the swamp or making America great again or the many, many other lies he has promised. His promises were about gaining power and ensuring he and his rich “friends” (who aren’t so much friends as they are people he is indebted to) profit from his tenure in politics at the people’s expense.
The inequality of the people, which breeds homelessness, substance abuse, no healthcare, pensions and the threats to our Social Security and Medicare, raising retirement to age seventy, and taking tips away from wait staff so owners can decide how they are distributed. We are heading into a revolt. We are just waiting for the right person or persons, and the right tipping point. Will it be France or the U.S. who will revolt first?
The tipping point here could be the scam of a tax plan and the attack on unions. But, can we still hit the streets without going to jail? There smells like a ploy is underway. Prosecutors in Washington, D.C., brought charges against inaugural protesters, claiming these protesters were violent and destroyed property; however, they had little or no proof these particular protesters did the violence or destruction. The jury acquitted six of the protesters, but 188 are still to be tried. What smells back is that, given this administration, antagonizers can infiltrate the peaceful protests and do damage that the others will pay for and ultimately scare people away from protests, and against stifling descent.
Yes, they are coming for us. Workers need to have one another’s backs because no one else will. Neither the broader labor movement nor the Democratic party are prepared to meet the urgency of this moment. So it’s going to fall upon the rest of us to mount a real resistance against Trump’s authoritarian takeover. We’re going to have to get our hands dirty. I don’t care if you have a good, well-paying union job and you are in the middle class now—if you see a worker being dragged out of his workplace regardless of how skilled the job and potentially taken to another country, you should be ready to be there for that worker. When I.C.E. shows up, gather around and shame them into leaving. It has worked in other places. America is sleep walking into authoritarianism, and if there’s anyone out there who is a member of a labor union that is safe—at this point— and doesn’t think this applies to them. Understand that they just haven’t gotten to you yet. They’re coming for all of us. There are ...
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