https://www.reddit.com/r/AskWomenOver30/comments/1ian7dm/how_can_the_rise_of_facism_be_tackled/
created by GrowthDream on 26/01/2025 at 19:07 UTC
161 upvotes, 15 top-level comments (showing 15)
It's extremely disturbing to see what's happening in the US. Are you organising locally? Are there online places where people can talk openly about fighting back? This feels beyond tolerable. In a sense it is still early days but I'm worried that we won't be able to talk on Reddit, Discord etc for much longer so I want to understand where else these conversations are happening as quickly as possible. I'm in Europe but you have my full support and we need to begin to organise resistance here as well before it is too late. We need to learn from the mistakes of last time, we can't stand for this.
Comment by FearlessTravels at 26/01/2025 at 22:40 UTC
42 upvotes, 2 direct replies
You get off the fucking sofa and you make sure that shit doesn’t hit the fan in your own back yard. My (non-US) community voted our incumbent right-wing candidate out by less than 200 votes. We MOBILIZED. I worked the phone banks. I put up signs in the community. I knocked on more than 1000 doors and spoke to my neighbors about what was at stake in the election. I attended community events as a volunteer for our candidate. I talked to my colleagues. I talked to my neighbors. I had a sign at my house (which resulted in threats) and a sign in my car (surprisingly it didn’t get keyed). You protect yourself and your community and you hope that other people in other places will then see that life is better when it’s not under a facist government.
Comment by hauteburrrito at 26/01/2025 at 19:26 UTC*
166 upvotes, 3 direct replies
The progressive left needs to stop cannibalising ourselves. We're obsessed with ethical purity in such a way as to effectively alienate everybody who doesn't fit perfectly into the progressive matrix of beliefs. People (in general) are governed far more by self-interest and a sense of group belonging than we are lofty morals. There's no incentive for remaining part of a group that confers increasingly few benefits, both psychological and otherwise. If we really wanted to be strategic, we would stop all our in-fighting and band together under strong leadership (because every movement is destined to fail without strong leadership) against the fascist right.
Unfortunately, I also think we're lacking strong leadership at the moment as I cannot think of a single figure on the left who might be charismatic enough, enough able to connect with a broad variety of people, and in possession of the necessary vision and drive to see our resistance forward. I think it will also be very difficult for the left to find such a person as great leaders in history tend to be terrible as much as, well, "great". Like, you don't bring a knife to a gun fight - you need a bastard like Churchill, not Chamberlain, to take out a malevolent force like Hitler. And, yet - it is difficult to imagine a modern version of Churchill whom the left could ideologically tolerate.
Comment by picantepepper1 at 26/01/2025 at 19:18 UTC
62 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Genuinely one of the main ways to "take back" a community is to invest time and money into service. Investing in mutual aid funds or community service efforts in local neighborhoods, getting to know your neighbors, building networks of solidarity in-person. You'll feel better, you'll get a perspective of what other people are going through, and the people you are in service to can also meet new people and neither side is afraid of an "other"
Comment by leafyveg12 at 26/01/2025 at 20:22 UTC
16 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We could make a group on Signal app with end to end encryption
Comment by Libellelule_Luciole at 27/01/2025 at 00:11 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I feel you, I’m thinking about the fragility of our democracies and the rise of facism a lot these days. It’s not exactly on topic, but I just watched a video that I really enjoyed and found reassuring that I want to share with you- the fall of oligarchies (and how to accelerate the process)[1]. Many of the points remain true regarding the process of power consolidation and the repercussions. I know it’s a scary time to be alive, but there is a critical mass of good people that will not let our institutions degrade and fall without a fight.
1: https://youtu.be/UlbJtgYEM1U
Comment by ProperBingtownLady at 26/01/2025 at 19:25 UTC
15 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I know some people feel really strongly about this but I’ve decided to stay on Instagram for the time being as it’s where I frequently post about these topics and fight disinformation. I almost feel like people like Zuckerberg are happy to have us leave and create their own echo chamber. That said I did update my ad and privacy preferences make it harder for them to monetize my data, and spend less time on it overall (I also never click links).
Comment by [deleted] at 26/01/2025 at 19:11 UTC
19 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by Pretend-Candidate970 at 27/01/2025 at 05:21 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I would say (ime anyway) the majority of Americans aren't very good at recognizing the creep of fascism and have been missing a lot of scary milestones because *reasons*.
Folks have already said, but continuing to read and stay engaged, listening to podcasts is good, but also-participate in arts and culture (any way that you can!). A lot of fascist rhetoric I've seen has veered into the anti-intellectual side of things (book bans are an obvious example) and part of what that does is flattening culture in a way that serves the authority. Can be as simple as buying prints from local artsist, recommending a good book to a friend, making art of your own, or donating books to a library! Not comprehensive by any means, but it's something we can all kinda do.
Comment by lovetoseeyourpssy at 26/01/2025 at 19:14 UTC*
13 upvotes, 2 direct replies
It could and should have been tackled at the root.
A very effective disinformation campaign partially Russia funded unexpected demographic shifts...
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-11-07/white-women-vote-donald-trump-kamala-harris
Russia:
Comment by Junimo116 at 27/01/2025 at 03:24 UTC*
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Focus on local outreach and activism. Change starts at the grassroots. Get involved in your school boards, mayoral elections, state elections, etc. A lot of people don't pay attention to that kind of stuff and only vote in the national elections.
Ironically, I think that's what allowed the more left-leaning candidate in my state (Wisconsin) to win, despite the state going for Trump. Seems like a lot of people were only interested in voting for Trump and didn't vote downballot. I'm hoping that my state takes advantage of that apathy to keep Wisconsin heading blue.
Comment by emilyennui89 at 27/01/2025 at 15:28 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
For the love of all things rational, start talking about a National Strike with everyone you know. Our labor = their power and money. Without us, they crumble.
Comment by cyranothe2nd at 27/01/2025 at 03:00 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
The only way to defeat fascism is by coordinated and organized violent resistance.
Comment by tebyho21 at 27/01/2025 at 12:38 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
By travelling back in time roughly ten years. That's when rise of fascism "started". Now you just have plain old fascism as your ruling party and class.
Comment by Extinction00 at 26/01/2025 at 19:35 UTC
-23 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Don’t call people racist, sexist, or racist. Don’t disrespect or disregard what they are saying. Listen to them and provide educated unbiased facts in your arguments.
If they provide facts to you, listen to them, research, get sources, and debate.
Any insults would just make them double down in their opinions
Comment by [deleted] at 27/01/2025 at 04:49 UTC
-3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
i wear my pink pussy hat everywhere i go