Chris Hedges: Undercurrents of American Fascism

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Sep 16, 2021

On January 6, 2021, a mob incited by outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump, stormed the U.S. capital in an attempt to halt the congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election results. Within the mob, as the scholar Gabriel Rockhill points out, were many current members of the military and police. Some of the leaders of the organizations involved, such as Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio and Joseph Biggs, had direct ties to U.S. intelligence agencies, having served as FBI informants. Only one fifth of Capitol Police were on duty that day, and they were unprepared and under-equipped, even though the U.S. national security state had advance knowledge of the plot. Capitol Police were seen opening barricades and fraternizing with the mob.

9/11: A Personal Reflection After Twenty Years, by Kenn Orphan

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by Kenn Orphan
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Halifax, Nova Scotia
September 11, 2021

For 20 years I resisted making any personal remarks about the attacks September the 11th, particularly regarding the World Trade Center in NYC. I thought it was inappropriate and inconsequential because I did not suffer personal loss like so many that day. But I have been reflecting a lot on that historic event lately. And given that the US war against Afghanistan is now over, at least officially if not covertly, I think there is good reason for that.

From Iowa Nice to Iowa Nazi: A Report from the Friendly Fascist Heartland, by Paul Street

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by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street, July 10, 2021
July 13, 2021

The sloppy fascist Donald Trump may no longer reside in the White House but he’s back on the hate rally campaign trail selling his big Hitlerian Stolen Election Lie. Meanwhile, Trumpist white nationalism is booming in the “red states,” where Amerikaner Republicans hold the reins.

The Fourth is an Annual Day of Collective Amnesia, by Kenn Orphan

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by Kenn Orphan
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Halifax, Nova Scotia
July 5, 2021

“​Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.” — Albert Einstein

“Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s brains and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead.” — Arundhati Roy

Put Away The Flags, by Howard Zinn

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by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published July 3, 2010
July 4, 2021

On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.

I’m Sick and Tired of This Thing Called “Patriotism,” by William Blum

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by William Blum
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published July 5, 2010
July 2, 2021

Some thoughts on “patriotism” written on July 4

Most important thought: I’m sick and tired of this thing called “patriotism”.

Chris Hedges: The Nature of Patriotism

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Jul 4, 2020

On the show this week, Chris Hedges discusses the nature of patriotism with West Point graduate and US Army combat veteran, Danny Sjursen.

I’m Sick and Tired of This Thing Called “Patriotism” by William Blum

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by William Blum
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published July 5, 2010
July 4, 2020

Some thoughts on “patriotism” written on July 4

Most important thought: I’m sick and tired of this thing called “patriotism”.

The Japanese pilots who bombed Pearl Harbor were being patriotic. The German people who supported Hitler and his conquests were being patriotic, fighting for the Fatherland. All the Latin American military dictators who overthrew democratically-elected governments and routinely tortured people were being patriotic — saving their beloved country from “communism”.

Put Away The Flags by Howard Zinn

Image by Jagz Mario via Flickr

by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published July 3, 2010
July 3, 2020

On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.

Chris Hedges: The Rise of Right-Wing Populism in India

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Watch the video below

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Mar 7, 2020

On the show this week, Chris Hedges talks to Siddharth Varadarajan, editor of The Wire, about the rise of right-wing populism in India and its disturbing parallels to the right-wing rise of populism in the United States.

Landslide… To Totalitarianism by Gaither Stewart

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by Gaither Stewart
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rome, Italy
December 16, 2019

I find surprising the detailed manner in which history repeats itself. The result of the landslide described here seems to have been replicated in the USA of our times in ways that all of us witness each day. The Germany of say 1939 seems like the blueprint for the US role in the world of today.

Chris Hedges and Danny Haiphong: Myths of American Exceptionalism

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges and Danny Haiphong

RT America on Aug 31, 2019

Host Chris Hedges talks with journalist Danny Haiphong about how the myths of American meritocracy and individualism are used to legitimize the accumulation of inherited wealth by the ruling elite class. Haiphong’s new book with Roberto Sirvent, American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People’s History of Fake News – From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror.

Fascism: A False Revolution by Michael Parenti

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by Michael Parenti
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Sept. 27, 2007
August 18, 2019

Fascism is a false revolution. It makes a revolutionary appeal without making an actual revolution. It propagates the widely proclaimed New Order while serving the same old moneyed interests.

The Rise of America’s Fascist Paramilitaries by Rainer Shea

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by Rainer Shea
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rainer Shea: Anti-Imperialist Journalist, Jul. 16, 2019
August 14, 2019

In a fascist shift, the state always forms a paramilitary group so that political violence can be carried out without the government being held accountable. It’s predictable that when this process started to happen in America, our version of Hitler’s Brownshirts and Mussolini’s Blackshirts would originate from America’s instruments of imperialism.

Put Away The Flags by Howard Zinn

Image by Jagz Mario via Flickr

by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published July 3, 2010
crossposted at The Progressive (2006)
July 5, 2019

On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.