Fascism returns in 2025. We are doomed to repeat history. We suck at remembering.
Fascism returns again and again. Among the reasons: a person - or groups of people - seeking power need and want fascism to project and protect their power. They do this with racism, intimidation, violence, language manipulation and propaganda, re-writing history, economic oppression, scapegoating, obliteration of cultures, and attacking voices groups that are different than them in place of birth or heritage or culture.
The United States of America is an ongoing project with many successes, lots of flaws, and tragic mistakes. But the American project is meant to be a democracy, not a fascist regime. No dictators or kings either.
After the first few weeks of second Trump election, it is time to post some images and thoughts of remembering and maybe trying to figure out what to do to save a democracy by and for all of the people.
During the 1930s, some Americans did not want the United States to oppose the rise of Nazi Germany. There was a "pro-America" rally held at Madison Square Garden in 1939. Eventually in 1941, American soldiers joined the allied forces in World War II. They fought and sacrificed their lives to defeat fascism and fight to save democracy around the world. I am old enough to remember vividly the after effects of World War II on our society. During the war, German Nazis killed many of my family relatives in Thessaloniki, Greece. The end of World War II was 80 years ago. It's influence and primal lessons-learned are fading from our collective memory.
I have always been drawn to the pitched battle between fascism and democracy. When I moved to the city in the 1980s, I wrote "Fascist Regime" on subway platform ads. I was obsessed with Ronald Reagan. I read "1984" by George Orwell in 1984. I took photos of many NYC demonstrations. In 2015 - I created an installation of locks, placing one each week for 52 weeks. Many images seem to be concerned with the fragility of democracy.
In 2020 - the Black Lives Matters artwork in a pandemic ghost town of New York City were heartbreaking and exhilarating. Police brutality and racial oppression are tools of a fascist regime.
In the run-up to the first Trump election and his first term, I loved the protest and related street art.
In the 2000s, I feel very strongly that Putin has created a fascist regime and government in Russia. The Putin regime's violent destruction of freedom of speech in Russia and the death of opposition leader Alexi Navalny is a clear example. The Russian military invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is fascism and cultural obliteration at its worst. Poet and writer Taras Shevchenko fought the Russian Tsars for Ukrainian cultural autonomy and sovereignty. Ukraine's citizens and soldiers are at the front lines of a new battle for democracy.
Trumps support of Putin and Russia confirms his desire for oligarchy, dictatorship, autocracy, and fascism. Elon Musk praises the right wing nationalist party in Germany and American. Musk illegally runs wild with his minions and computer code through the federal vital government programs for working Americans.
In the weeks before the 2024 election, artist Gabriel Spector installed this powerfully prophetic image:
After World War II, people would ask "what did you do during the war?" In other words: How did you join the battle to save democracy?
The 2020 election between Biden and Trump was billed as "the election to save democracy." I had to do something, so I made a "this machine fights fascism" sticker (inspired by Woody Guthrie's guitar). It was a tiny contribution but the idea was sound (at least in my mind). The sticker shows (maybe not so clearly) that one main way to fight fascism - to fight for freedom and basic human rights - is with demonstration and protest. The people in the image are hotel workers on strike in 1983 - demonstrating for a fare wage. They are demonstrating with an American flag - the symbol of freedom, hope, and democracy. When Benjamin Franklin was once asked what type of government the Constitutional Convention adopted, his cautionary response was, "A republic, if you can keep it."
As for the 2024 presidential results: frustration, disillusionment, anger, and disappointment - especially with certain other American citizens - it pummels my soul. I try to avoid the news.
But fascists thrive on chaos, intimidation, and exhaustion. It is time again to have an answer as to what you did during the war.
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