mstdn.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
A general-purpose Mastodon server with a 500 character limit. All languages are welcome.

Administered by:

Server stats:

13K
active users

#mccarthyism

2 posts2 participants0 posts today

of : On Palestine and British ‘Cultural McCarthyism’”

by Asim Qureshi in The Palestine Chronicle

@palestine
@israel
@UKLabour @BBC5Live
@BBCRadio4

“In the United Kingdom today, the line between political expression and criminal offence has never been more perilously thin – as witnessed through the lens of – the extent of Britain’s encroachment upon basic freedoms becomes painfully clear“

palestinechronicle.com/crimina

Palestine Chronicle · Criminalization of Conscience: On Palestine and British ‘Cultural McCarthyism’At the heart of this crisis is a fundamental misunderstanding — or deliberate misrepresentation — of what it means to express solidarity.

Analysis: "What went by 'McCarthyism' was not just one man or one party, it was the bipartisan consensus of our rulers."

Eg, The Smith Act, making membership in the Communist & Socialist Parties a crime, "was a 1940 product of FDR."

"The new McCarthy Era, like the old, has seen brazenly illegal jailings and deportations, false accusations with no evidence, & the destruction of professional careers."

counterpunch.org/2025/06/13/th

#McCarthyism #Fascism #Racism #USPol #Trump #BipartisanRepression .

CounterPunch.org · The New ‘McCarthyism’ and the OldExpanded from remarks at the National Lawyers Guild Chicago Chapter upon receiving the organization’s Arthur Kinoy Award, 5/29/2025 Today the National

Analysis: "What went by 'McCarthyism' was not just one man or one party, it was the bipartisan consensus of our rulers."

Eg, The Smith Act, making membership in the Communist & Socialist Parties a crime, "was a 1940 product of FDR."

"The new McCarthy Era, like the old, has seen brazenly illegal jailings and deportations, false accusations with no evidence, & the destruction of professional careers."

counterpunch.org/2025/06/13/th

#McCarthyism #Fascism #Racism #USPol #Trump #BipartisanRepression .

CounterPunch.org · The New ‘McCarthyism’ and the OldExpanded from remarks at the National Lawyers Guild Chicago Chapter upon receiving the organization’s Arthur Kinoy Award, 5/29/2025 Today the National

Analysis: "What went by 'McCarthyism' was not just one man or one party, it was the bipartisan consensus of our rulers."

Eg, The Smith Act, making membership in the Communist & Socialist Parties a crime, "was a 1940 product of FDR."

"The new McCarthy Era, like the old, has seen brazenly illegal jailings and deportations, false accusations with no evidence, & the destruction of professional careers."

counterpunch.org/2025/06/13/th

#McCarthyism #Fascism #Racism #USPol #Trump #BipartisanRepression .

CounterPunch.org · The New ‘McCarthyism’ and the OldExpanded from remarks at the National Lawyers Guild Chicago Chapter upon receiving the organization’s Arthur Kinoy Award, 5/29/2025 Today the National

Analysis: "What went by 'McCarthyism' was not just one man or one party, it was the bipartisan consensus of our rulers."

"The new McCarthy Era, like the old, has seen brazenly illegal jailings and deportations, false accusations with no evidence, & the destruction of professional careers — this time magnified many times over."

counterpunch.org/2025/06/13/th

#McCarthyism #Fascism #Racism #USPol #Trump .

CounterPunch.org · The New ‘McCarthyism’ and the OldExpanded from remarks at the National Lawyers Guild Chicago Chapter upon receiving the organization’s Arthur Kinoy Award, 5/29/2025 Today the National

Historian Ellen Schrecker reveals a striking comparison between current U.S. university repression and McCarthyism, highlighting its far-reaching impacts on faculty, curriculum, and student enrollment. Recent federal actions have fostered a climate of fear, prompting a robust student and faculty backlash for academic freedom. Universities must defend their integrity against these politically driven interferences. Explore this crucial discussion in the full article. [democracynow.org]
#EllenSchrecker #TrumpAdministration #McCarthyism #AcademicFreedom #UniversityProtests #Dissent #HigherEducation #FreeSpeech

Democracy Now!Democracy Now!A daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the U.S.

Interview: "Worse Than McCarthyism”: Trump’s War Against Universities & Students

"Today, the repression that’s coming out of Washington, D.C., it attacks everything that happens on American campuses.

"The damage that the Trump administration is doing is absolutely beyond the pale and has never, never been equaled in American life with regard to higher education.”

~Historian Ellen Schrecker

democracynow.org/2025/5/30/mcc

#Trump #McCarthyism #USPol @palestine #Fascism #FreeSpeech #censorship .

Democracy Now! · “Worse Than McCarthyism”: Historian Ellen Schrecker on Trump’s War Against Universities & StudentsBy Democracy Now!

Interview: "Worse Than McCarthyism”: Trump’s War Against Universities & Students

"Today, the repression that’s coming out of Washington, D.C., it attacks everything that happens on American campuses.

"The damage that the Trump administration is doing is absolutely beyond the pale and has never, never been equaled in American life with regard to higher education.”

~Historian Ellen Schrecker

democracynow.org/2025/5/30/mcc

#Trump #McCarthyism #USPol @palestine #Fascism #FreeSpeech #censorship .

Democracy Now! · “Worse Than McCarthyism”: Historian Ellen Schrecker on Trump’s War Against Universities & StudentsBy Democracy Now!

Interview: "Worse Than McCarthyism”: Trump’s War Against Universities & Students

"Today, the repression that’s coming out of Washington, D.C., it attacks everything that happens on American campuses.

"The damage that the Trump administration is doing is absolutely beyond the pale and has never, never been equaled in American life with regard to higher education.”

~Historian Ellen Schrecker

democracynow.org/2025/5/30/mcc

#Trump #McCarthyism #USPol @palestine #Fascism #FreeSpeech #censorship .

Democracy Now! · “Worse Than McCarthyism”: Historian Ellen Schrecker on Trump’s War Against Universities & StudentsBy Democracy Now!

Analysis: "Worse Than McCarthyism: Universities in the Age of Trump"

"The target then was the nonexistent threat of Communist teachers; today, it’s the supposed radicalism of the academy & its alleged failure to fight antisemitism."

"The mass movement we so desperately need may be in its early stages. Perhaps we learned something from the past. During the Cold War Red Scare, there was nothing but silence."

thenation.com/article/society/

#Trump #McCarthyism #ResistFascism #USPol @palestine .

Analysis: "Worse Than McCarthyism: Universities in the Age of Trump"

"The target then was the nonexistent threat of Communist teachers; today, it’s the supposed radicalism of the academy and its alleged failure to fight antisemitism."

"The mass movement we so desperately need may already be in its early stages. Perhaps we have learned something from the past. During the Cold War Red Scare, there was nothing but silence."

thenation.com/article/society/

#Trump #McCarthyism #ResistFascism #USPol .

Continued thread

Even as the Trump regime appears poised to ultimately lose a number of cases revolving around instant visa revocations for anti-genocide foreign student protestors, Downmarket Mussolini's purse dog at State, Marco Rubio, is looking to expand the tactic to target Chinese foreign students; and the ominous context of this move suggests to me that we might be in for a bumpy ride if this really is going in the direction I think it's headed.

commondreams.org/news/china-us

'This Will Hurt Us As Much As It Hurts Them': Trump Admin Says It Will Revoke Visas of Chinese Students

"The U.S. State Department announced on Wednesday that it is working with the Department of Homeland Security to "aggressively revoke" visas that have been issued to Chinese students—sparking a rebuke from China's government and anxiety among Chinese students.

The Trump administration is endeavoring to revoke visas for students that hail from China, "including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields," according to a short statement from the State Department. "We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong."

Even taken at face value, this policy shift is authoritarian, racist, and alarming. The power Rubio is attempting to exert here is about protecting American national security in the event of a crisis on par with an impeding war; it's not intended as a method for the Trump regime to get back at China for criticism over Downmarket Mussolini's unhinged trade policies. Even under the most benign interpretation of Rubio's actions here, this is still Trump repurposing the apparatus of the American state to prosecute his personal grievances.

Of course, we as observers who just watched the Pork Reich use this exact same process to justify kidnapping and attempting to deport foreign student anti-genocide protestors as part of a larger authoritarian plot to use "fighting antisemitism" as a justification for installing a new McCarthyism, have no reason to assume the most benign scenario here. Are we to expect the US government to begin kidnapping Chinese students and shipping them to ICE private detention hellholes now? If that happens, how do you figure the Chinese government is going to feel about it? Regardless of what you think about Palestine and Hamas, they don't have nukes and international economic power; China does. Does anyone know what the phrase "critical fields," means in this context and does it bother you that it's so vague? Are we worried about Chinese students stealing our crappier AI technology or some bullshit? Does it seem rational to anyone who isn't a Sinophobe nazi to kick a hornet's nest like this one, because Trump had some feel bads about social media posts from Chinese officials?

While I wish I could stop there, in a Project Esther world every bit of repressive policy based on foreign relations and winger anticommunism is a possible vector for ideological policing and the elimination of what the nazis classify broadly as "the radical American left" - a group that includes Democrat politicians and apparently, the hosts of The View. The sleight of hand the regime is employing to conflate anti-Zinonism and opposition to a genocide with anti-Americanism and material support for our "enemies," can be just as easily applied to China and a very broad, Bircher definition of "communism." In fact, I'd argue decades of American anticommunist rhetoric would make that application even easier and more effective in the public discourse. If you take a look at what the folks behind the 1776 Commission, and Project 2025 define as "communism" there's an unreasonable argument that anyone advocating for racial, gender, or social equality is a communist. Ditto for folks advocating for regulations on capitalism, labor rights, or even the separation of church and state; the possibilities are pretty endless given what these folks call "communism." From there it's only a short little hop to "China is communism, therefore communism is China" and you've got a whole new application of Project Esther techniques to work with in your quest to crush all political opposition to the Trump regime.

Are these nazis really prepared to repurpose a global trade struggle with China to install a martial law-style police state? Who knows; but if you listen to guys like Stephen Miller talk for about five minutes, you'll realize why I think assuming they *don't* intend to go the full nine yards, is a very bad idea indeed.

Common Dreams · 'This Will Hurt Us As Much As It Hurts Them': Trump Admin Says It Will Revoke Visas of Chinese Students | Common DreamsThe U.S. State Department is aggressively revoking visas for Chinese students, sparking anxiety and backlash from China.
#Fascism#Trump#China
Continued thread

Yesterday, I spent a little time on this account writing about the Trump regime, Project Esther, and the fascist American right's plan to use anti-terrorism laws to crush their political opposition. Unfortunately, I ran out of room to say everything I wanted to say so last night I expanded my thoughts over on NIDC and did the sourcing legwork.

ninaillingworth.com/2025/05/27

Nina-Bytes: Trump’s COINTELPRO Looms Into Focus

"This then brings us to the ominous reality so very few observers in the media seem to be grasping, namely that targeting the anti-genocide, pro-Palestine movement is merely the tip of the fascist spear in the Trump regime’s war on dissent and political opposition. The rhetoric, suppression techniques, and legal arguments that are being deployed against foreign anti-genocide student protestors as we speak are easy to replicate while targeting more or less the entire oppositional left in America, including milquetoast NGOs, aid groups, and likely even “liberal” political organizations like the Democratic Party. The broad and extremely vague nature of our terrorism laws leaves room for the Trump regime to label almost anyone a member of a terrorist organization, and define material support for that organization in any way they please. The authors of Project Esther are very clear that they consider opposition to capitalism, or the American state as embodied by the Trump administration, to be valid targets for those designations. If anti-genocide protest is “materially supporting Hamas,” then funding migrant support work is probably “materially supporting narco-terrorist gangs,” and speaking out against the US government can be “materially supporting” any group of “bad guys” around the globe that do the same. The possibilities for targeted, legalized repression are quite literally endless."

Nina Illingworth Dot Com | "When the revolution is for everyone, everyone will be for the revolution" · Nina-Bytes: Trump’s COINTELPRO Looms Into Focus | on NIDCAs Trump faces more public opposition to his fascist agenda, the regime is increasingly turning to the Heritage Foundation's "Project Esther" to crush dissent.
#Fascism#Trump#USPol