Tag: anti-fascism

Fighting fascism – Day Two – freedom of the press

by Michel Welmond, posted in Fighting fascism

Thanks for checking out my blog. Here’s my ongoing attempt to keep fighting fascism!

The fascists are moving very fast: erasing birthright, pardons for insurrectionists, militarizing the border, pulling the U.S. out of the WHO and the Paris Climate Agreement, gutting diversity, equity and inclusion programs and overturning protections for transgender Americans are among the more egregious acts. Many more have happened and are on the way.

There will be a lot to do to fight back. And it will be a long haul. In my opinion, anti-fascist organizations are probably not moving fast enough –the ones I listed yesterday haven’t updated their “TAKE ACTION” pages in response to the inaugural speech yet. However, many of the actions they propose stay relevant. I just looked at the ACLU action page and there are at least a half-dozen petitions that can be signed. There’s one on Common Cause’s website that I believe merits attention regarding Project 2025.

In any case, what is important is to stay informed and to inform others. We need to keep on top of what is happening. There is a lot of news being reported and analyzed out there and it is easy to be overwhelmed. I do not claim to be a master of that universe, but I would like to draw your attention to one site that I think has particularly interesting coverage. The Contrarian is run by two former Washington Post reporters, who quit for reasons we certainly understand. I find they have interesting articles and discussions that are worth visiting.

Aside from Media Matters, which I listed yesterday, here are a few other organizations that are fighting for freedom of the press and against disinformation.

  1. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) – Focuses on defending digital privacy, free expression, and internet freedoms. (www.eff.org)
  2. Political Research Associates (PRA) – Conducts research on authoritarian and far-right movements to counter their influence. (www.politicalresearch.org)
  3. Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights (IREHR) – Tracks far-right extremist groups and promotes strategies to fight them. (www.irehr.org)

I need ideas! If you have any suggestions, please share them with me so I can put them on subsequent blogs posts.