Statement from the League of Revolutionaries for a New America In the early hours of February 28, 2026 President Donald Trump gave the green light to Israel to attack Iran. By evening the largely civilian casualties in Iran number in the hundreds, many of them children. The U.S. spent weeks sending the largest Naval fleet to the Persian Gulf since its 2003 invasion of Iraq. Despite Trump’s hollow rhetoric about negotiations, which were always contradicted by Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated intentions and Trump’s own threats, Iran was prepared for a war and vowed to strike back at Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf region, which it did promptly. As of this statement Iran is closing the Strait of Hormuz. If the effort is successful, repercussions will be felt globally. About 20% of the global oil supply passes through the straits. The U.S., joined at the hip with Israel is at war with the Islamic Republic of Iran. With the confirmed killing of Iran’s supreme leader, escalation is assured and the cost in human lives will be dear. War with Iran is condemnable on its own, but the economic and political fallout will be the enduring legacy to the American people and should be a clarion call to all revolutionaries to act in the interests of our class. In the U.S., every indicator of well-being is declining, and every measure of destitution is increasing. This crisis does not unfold in isolation from the war economy being unleashed abroad — both are expressions of the same dying system. The Trump administration displays the depravity and the desperation of the ruling class he represents, hostile to the concept of democracy and any vision that does not maintain their rule. How are we to make sense of the immorality of deliberate targeting of Iranian civilians, including a girl’s elementary school, killing over 150 children? We are seeing once again the historical link between war and fascism at home and war against the world. The people of Iran united against imperial aggression in the face of their own internal struggles. Revolutionaries in America can and must unite if we are to work toward a society in which we can thrive and establish peaceful coexistence. To reach the League, visit https://lrna.org/ To read the League’s bilingual newspaper, visit https://rally-theleague.org/

This report was presented in four parts and discussed in the NC’s regular meeting in December 2025 and at a special weekend retreat In January 2026. As you read the the four parts of this report below), please keep in mind these discussion points: • Fascism is NOT a done deal - it can be stopped. • Fascist forces are not just confined to MAGA/MAHA • Elections are a very important part of the the working class’ response to fascism but alone, elections will not stop the fascist drive • The transition period, the epoch of revolution that we’re in, requires the end of capitalism and private property to not only stop fascism but begin a new a path toward communism and literally save our lives, other species and the earth we love and sustains us. Chaotic, difficult, challenging and tumultuous periods of history offer us the most powerful conditions for revolutionary transformation. 1. Economy and State On September 30, Donald Trump told the 800 generals in an unprecedented assembly convened by Defense Secretary Hegspeth that deployments in U.S. cities are “going to be a big thing for the people in this room because it’s the enemy from within and we have to handle it before it gets out of control.” Something big is happening in this country. Calling it “fascism” might be correct, but to identify the responsibilities of revolutionaries, we have to look more specifically at what is happening and dig deeper about why Project 2025, the Democratic Party’s failure/inability to mount a campaign that spoke to the needs of the people of this country, Trump in the White House — all these are part of the picture. There are deeply rooted historical and current causes. There are also preparatory precedents, like the 1981 passage of the Military Cooperation with Law Enforcement Act that integrated the US military into domestic drug enforcement and then the regular supply of military equipment to local police departments. Soldiers and police trained together and conducted joint paramilitary operations. economic revolution…. But to understand why now? and to know what is to be done? we have to understand where it’s coming from. We need to look at it more deeply and in an economic and historical, global and domestic context, The first thing is that US society is disrupted at its foundation. The people of this country and the world are well into an economic and social revolution. The labor-displacing capacity of computers, robotics, AI, etc has brought about an economic revolution that is disrupting and de-stabilizing States and societies organized around industrial production. Ideas, institutions, and relationships that used to hold US society together no longer do so. Jobs and incomes that used to stabilize life for a critical section of society are simply no longer available. Although the forms and outcomes may be uncertain, this economic revolution is bound also to manifest in social upheaval. Political direction and outcome are not clear. We are familiar with how this economic revolution has un-folded in the US. Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, the economic revolution began replacing millions of US workers in large-scale industry with robots. Digital technology made it possible to off-shore millions more jobs that became part of a global system of production. Over the last four or five decades this expulsion of millions of workers from their connection (in production) with the capitalist class began to disrupt society at its foundations. Everything that was built on that connection — public education, public health, affordable housing, an electoral-party system — came to be undermined. That was just the beginning of the disruption of society — the beginning of the end of the connection of capitalists and workers in the process of production, i.e., relations of production. Ever more sophisticated artificial intelligence now threatens to displace many more millions. This break in the relation of the working and owning classes also adds political energy toward legal and political changes that promote the accumulation of “wealth” beyond typical labor vs capital relationship. These new forms [?] of private property beyond capitalism are beginning to shape society. These forms may rest on capitalist exploitation, but they are ever more remotely based in actual production and employment — hedge funds where investors speculate on the ratio between occupied and unoccupied housing, how fast glaciers are melting, billions of dollars of speculation in crypto-currency, etc. We have referred to this broken connection between classes in production as an “antagonism at the economic base of society.” The State is no longer rooted in a stable connection between the working class and capitalist class. Objectively, the imperative of government — to ensure that workers are healthy and educated enough to come to work everyday — is declining. Its role shifts ever more rapidly to coercion. All this is bound to bring about a change in how the ruling class exercises its power. And now we are seeing it. Donald Trump and his associates came into office hollowing out government and making changes in the State/form of rule that corresponds to the changed needs of the ruling class. They are the messengers, not the underlying cause. These are political effects of the economic revolution. By just about any definition, the lying, terroristic, precedent-setting brutal form of rule being imposed by the Trump Administration can be considered fascistic. This definition was used to understand the fascism of the last century: “The accession to power of fascism is not an ordinary succession of one bourgeois government by another, but a substitution of one state form of class domination of the bourgeoisie -- bourgeois democracy -- by another form -- open terrorist dictatorship.” (Dmitrov) Although many of the events of the day look similar to the German and Italian fascism of the 20th century, the definition doesn’t tell us what’s happening now in this country, at this time and why. Fascism of the last century came about in the transition from economies and work rooted in agriculture and small-scale manufacture. Fascist “leaders” in the 20th century agitated popular anger and discontent after WW1 and a sense a loss of place in a society that was undergoing huge changes at its economic foundation. Those who were able to find their way to political power did not implement any sort of program that addressed the needs and anger of the people in that moment. Instead, their regimes shaped political and social superstructures that supported and accelerated industrialization and the growth of capitalist production relations in their respective countries. That was the historical purpose of 20th century fascism. Today’s fascism has a different purpose and program. It does not aim to develop industry and support capitalist production relations. It aims to support and prolong other forms, relationships, and investment schemes that depend ever more remotely on production, while preserving private property relations. In this sense today, the motion toward fascism today is a political expression of the social revolution that began with robots replacing factory workers. The extent of the legal and political changes that suit the needs of the ruling class (and the private property relations they represent) may not be obvious. But for several decades, at least, some analysts for the ruling class have described the legal changes that erode the responsibility of the State/government to care for its people. In 2003, Philip Bobbitt, a professor of constitutional law at Columbia University, wrote a book whose conclusions were applauded by business leaders. The book is over 800 pages long, and he uses his own complicated terminology, but the “Forward” to the book (by another scholar) summarizes Bobbitt’s thesis: “So as the development of guns had destroyed the old feudal order, and the development of railways the old dynastic order, now the development of computers has destroyed the nation-state. Not the State itself, as Bobbitt is at pains to show: the State will always be necessary to provide security, fiscal organization, and law. But in the same way as princely states mutated into dynastic territorial states, and they in their turn into nations state, now, nation-states are mutating into what Bobbitt terms ‘market states’….” (Page xviii.) In a nutshell, Bobbitt points to the end of what he calls the “nation-state,” which protects the entire nation — to some extent, at least — and its replacement by the “market-state” that “pursues its objectives by incentive structures and sometimes draconian penalties, not so much to assure that the right thing is done as to prevent the social instability that threatens material well-being.” (P 229) Bobbitt is explicit about this “market-state.” • “The revolution in information technology that has so empowered non-governmental groups cannot function in a non-state environment…. It is the national-state that is dying, not the State. With it will go much of the power and influence of the great international institutions of the society of nation-states, institutions like the World Bank, the United Nations, the International Court of Justice. This void will be filled by institutions and rules that reflect the new society of market-states; when this order changes, as is now happening, the institutions of the society composed of states inevitably changes also.” P 363-64. • “The market-state is largely indifferent to the norms of justice or for that matter to any particular set of moral values so long as the law does not act as an impediment to economic competition…” (p 230) • “In the market-state, the State is responsible for maximizing the choices available to individuals. This means lowering the transaction costs of choosing by individuals and that often means restraining rather than empowering governments.” (p 230) • “In the market-state, the marketplace becomes the economic arena, replacing the factory. In the marketplace, men and women are consumers, not producers (who are probably offshore anyway).” (p 230) We should note that Bobbitt didn’t simply advocate these changes. He described how the political superstructure changes to promote the interests and continuity of private property relations under the new conditions shaped by technology that displaces labor and workers. Whether or not they read Bobbitt’s 800+ pages, the ruling class is moving on its conclusions — in business schools at elite universities, at the Heritage Foundation, in lobbying arms of Wall Street banks. They have political power, so they don’t have to announce these things to the general population. But they know what they need and how to get it. what the ruling class/business needs. The ruling class does not need to preserve capitalism. They need to protect private property under new conditions. Bobbitt described the type of changes to the political superstructure they need. The Trump Admin seems to be heading in that direction. He is simply talking louder and running faster on the same path: But the legal changes that support money being made of off money go back decades: - In the late 1980s through the early 2000s, there occurred what a former chief economist for the World Bank called a “quiet coup” in this country. A reckless deregulation of the financial sector cleared the way for new financial products: credit default swaps, securitization, financial derivatives, commodity derivatives, irresponsible loans. All amounted to financial investors’ speculation – bets – on interest rates and various forms of debt. Whether or not the debts get paid, the financial investors make their money – based ever more remotely on the actual production of homes, cars or whatever the loans were taken out for. - Then the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 cleared the path for financial institutions to control the majority portion of key industries and infrastructures. In 2000, to “modernize” and “enhance the competitive position of United States financial institutions and financial markets,” the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) cleared the way for all sorts of new speculative products, many of which we still see rolling out today. - After the inevitable financial crash in 2007-08, the 2008 bailout and restructuring of the financial sector was the largest ever transfer of public wealth to private interests. The cost to the Federal government amounted to $15,000 per man, woman and child in the U.S. In the first half of 2009, the top six banks got $30 billion in profits. Trump’s hollowing out of public education stands on that history. His “Big, Beautiful Bill” is poised to accelerate the privatization of the nation’s school systems — and private equity aims to cash in. By some estimates, the law’s new school voucher provision — which uses public funds to help parents pay for private-school tuition — is expected to transfer anywhere from $4 billion to $51 billion to private schools and companies that contract with public school districts. That includes companies owned by private equity firms.” https://www.levernews.com/private-equitys-new-playground-americas-schools/ Despite the decline in real wealth production in the US, investors still want to invest — somewhere, somehow to fill their coffers. And so we see the predominance of financialization of basic social needs, along with speculation on interest rates, future prices, housing supply and vacancies, etc. All this amounts to stronger bonds of debt for the working class. Now AI and other high-tech ventures are getting regulations and de-regulations that not only threaten to crash the economy but also add to the devastation of Nature. Trump and his family are deeply involved in crypto-currency, another by-product of high tech and financialization of the economy. The state of Wyoming proudly pledges no regulation on crypto. All a crypto-company needs is a WY address, so thousands of crypto companies are registering there. So many companies are “moving” to Jackson Hole, WY that housing there is now unaffordable for the few workers who are left there. The military industry thrives off of war — including the international sales of weaponry and the growing domestic operation of both the military and the police. The high-tech industry long ago dropped any hesitations about offering its capacity to the military. And now they are heavily invested and wildly profiting. All that is not to say that what is happening is the cause of what is happening. Changes at the economic foundation of society have made possible new avenues of profiteering. Then, at a certain point, bigger and broader political change starts to reorganize society according to the needs of these new forms of private property — as predatory and rapacious as they are. The Trump Administration’s hallowing out of government and disregard for human life are perfectly compatible with investors in these growing sections of the economy. Although these changes meet the specific needs of certain sectors of the economy, there are no other sections of the ruling class that have an different agenda that is compatible with any programmatic or practical needs of the working class. The relative weakness of the US in the emerging multi-polar world order also shapes the political needs of the ruling class. We are seeing the beginning of the end of US dominance in the world — a dominance based on slavery, genocide, and colonialism. French anthropologist and author Emmanuel Todd noted that…. The inevitable defeat in and withdrawal from Ukraine ”will have dramatic consequences for the Empire that those from Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan did not have. This is indeed the first American strategic defeat on a global scale in a context of massive deindustrialization in the US ….” The ruling class needs lies to keep the population in the dark. They need division and repression to keep it from uniting to fight in their own interests. The twin horrors of war globally and the inevitable and sharp declining standard of living in the US present to US revolutionaries some heavy responsibilities. It also presents the opportunity to develop the political consciousness of our class. This moment calls on us to speak out against the crimes of our ruling class against the people of world. This beginning of the end of US dominance presents the responsibility and the opportunity to overcome the national chauvinism that has prevented our working class from thinking and fighting in its own actual interests — with consciousness of its actual interests and united against its ruling class. The incomes and privileges enjoyed by a significant section of the US working class came at the expense of millions of oppressed people elsewhere in the world. That relatively privileged position of workers in the imperialist core has crippled the revolutionary movement for over 100 years. The geopolitical situation today holds the potential to bring that chapter of history to a close. The blocks to that unity and consciousness go back to the origins of this country — founded on genocide, colonialism, and slavery. The beginning of the end of US dominance in the world holds the potential for the unity and consciousness of our class. Accomplishing that potential depends on the thinking and work of revolutionaries. **This economic revolution and the social effects are being fought out politically, in forms particular to time and place. Nationalism is an ever-present component of fascism. In this country, that nationalism is shaped by US history of the colonial status of the Black Belt region of the South and the legal and extra-legal violence and oppression of the African-American people — with a continuity, though in evolving forms — from slavery through to today. More specifically, the Jim Crow regime imposed on the South (after the Civil War and the violent overthrow of Reconstruction) shapes how the ruling class exercises its political power to this day. They rely on the oppression of the African-American people to control the working class as a whole.** 2. US history and political power The American Roots of Fascism Amidst Economic Upheaval The accelerated drive toward fascism during these disruptively changing economic conditions represents a fundamentally new crossroads in human history. The pace at which the economic base is shifting has intensified the push toward fascism. At the heart of maintaining capitalist relationships in the U.S. is violent white supremacy. The George Floyd demonstrations of 2020 and the growth of a 21st century abolition movement was a social expression of economic upheavals accompanied by requisite oppression. The threat that millions of working class people of all nationalities and genders posed by protesting police violence was not lost on the authors of Project 2025. History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does carry a living legacy. That living legacy is American fascism born out of the Defeat of Reconstruction. It embraces the violent white supremacy that was necessary to enforce the slave codes before the Civil War (Dred Scott, 1857): The Black Codes during the immediate aftermath of the Civil War (1865): and finally, the formal defeat of Reconstruction with the legal construction of white supremacist Jim Crow in Southern States (Hayes-Tilden 1877).* Fascism is not new to America. Reconstruction Period Dubois characterizes the period immediately following the Civil War as “anarchy in the South and the triumph of brute physical force over large areas”. There was no civil authority in most southern states. The slave owning planters’ class had lost control of Congress. Starvation and violence permeated the region. The federal government was in turmoil. What would the content of democracy be as political power shifted from the planter class to industrial and finance capital? Who held the power; Congress, the President and/or State Legislatures? Southern states answered with the Black Codes - slavery by another name. Vagrancy laws; denial of freedom of movement and property ownership; sundown laws; and the continuance of Dred Scott’s (1857) ruling that Blacks were not citizens and had no rights that a white man was bound to honor were the grist of American fascism and enforced by violence both ‘legal’ and sanctioned ‘extra-legal’. Reconstruction from 1865-1876 was marked by 1000’s of lynching with brutal massacres of formerly enslaved people that included whole families and communities. There was also a terrifying randomness to killings for no discernable cause.’ https://eji.org/reports/reconstruction-in-america-overview/. The randomness of violence that marked the Black codes are mirrored today in the kidnapping, torture and detention of immigrants. 71% of those detained have no criminal conviction, reflecting a living legacy of isolating, control, and illegality. The aim of the white supremacist terror was to prevent formerly enslaved from political participation and keep them tied to land, in the mines and in the kitchens in slave like conditions. Over 2000 lynchings were documented during Reconstruction and thousands more unknown, beaten, whipped, raped and tortured. The convict leasing system that began immediately after the Civil War is imprinted on today’s prison industrial complex. The ‘slave patrols’ followed by white militias & KKK were the origin of American policing. The murders of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, GA and Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fl., are directly linked to that violent ‘extra-legal’ terrorist white supremacy. Vagrancy laws that filled the prisons are not unlike today’s criminalization of the homeless, mass incarcerations, and immigrant ICE detentions. The Reconstruction period from the general strike of slaves who left the plantations and gave their labor to the Union securing the latter’s victory; through the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment was a constant battle. The establishment of the short-lived Freedman Bureau and its work to assist the formerly enslaved and poor whites with food, clothing, and shelter was a brief moment in time. Yet despite the violence, hospitals and schools were built laying the foundation for a public school system. Project 2025 today makes clear its intent is to end the legacy and origins of any governmental role other than policing, ICE and military. Jim Crow: The Subordination and separation of Black people in the South – codified and enforced by custom, habit and violence. * (from the Equal Justice Initiative) “Now that political power had been regained, legalized racial subordination could and would be restored. “[I]f we would have white supremacy,” Knox explained, “we must establish it by law—not by force or fraud.”93 From 1885 to 1908, all eleven former Confederate states rewrote their constitutions to include provisions restricting voting rights with poll taxes, literacy tests, and felon disenfranchisement.” (Equal Justice Initiative). https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/if-anybody-says-election-to-me-i-want-to-fight-the-messy-election-of-1876-october-2020/ . The Hayes-Tilden compromise of 1877 formalized what was already well underway. It was in the interest of Northern industry, railroads and finance to enact the ‘compromise’ that imposed colonial conditions on the Black Belt South and protected capitalist private property through segregation. “To the editor {of the National Republican} it appeared but natural and proper that the ‘governing classes’ in the South should combine with like elements in the North against Northern Democratic ‘riff-raff’ and assume leadership over ‘the native menial classes’ of the South…” (Origins of the New South by C. Vann Woodward). Multiple court cases and unmitigated racial mob violence in the 1870’s and 1880’s mortality wounded any legal equality or protection delineated in the Reconstruction Amendments. The final withdrawal of federal troops from South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida guaranteed the super exploitation and violent control of Black labor in the South. The following decades used the State Rights’ Doctrine enshrined in the defeat of Reconstruction to crush working class unity with both terror and laws like Taft Hartley, right-to-work. Attempts by Black people to exercise the right to vote or to challenge the total control that landowners exerted over sharecroppers were met with brutal and often deadly violence. Efforts to escape the confines of the plantation system or to assert basic freedoms provoked retaliation, serving as a warning to others. Fascism is not only ‘mob’ violence, but legally sponsored and sanctioned state violence. Over 4000 lynchings occurred in the South between 1877-1950. “Terror lynchings were horrific acts of violence whose perpetrators were never held accountable. Indeed, some public spectacle lynchings were attended by the entire white community and conducted as celebratory acts of racial control and domination.” Fast forward to the repeal of preclearance under the Voting Rights Act, the destruction of DEI programs, and SCOTUS’ favorable rulings to all of Trump’s ‘shadow dockets’, and a clear path emerges for Project 2025’s agenda. The seeds of Plessy v Ferguson are unmistakable. The State of Georgia has purged over 500,000 people from the voting roles and instituted multiple obstacles to voting including reducing drop boxes, requiring multiple identifications to request an absentee ballot, closing well over 1200 voting polls and gerrymandering that virtually guarantees ultra conservative candidate wins. The transparency of the social base for terror, violence and intimidation was on full view with the threats against two Black women election workers in Georgia in 2016. “Death threats from angry Trump supporters forced Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman, a 62-year-old grandmother, to flee her home of 20 years. Some messages called for her hanging; one urged people to “hunt” her. Freeman showed hundreds of menacing messages to police and called 911 three times.” The drive toward consolidating fascism today follows the same agenda as the institution of Jim Crow 148 years ago: white supremacy as the form and fascism as the content. At this moment, xenophobia is the racist tool and patriarchy it’s hammer. The super exploitation and oppression of the Black, Indigenous and immigrant worker has never stopped but the possibility for working class unity is far greater today. Over 60 years of lessons and struggles for ‘reforms’ have shaped expectations and a powerful but incomplete movement for social and economic justice today confronts the capitalist roots of fascism and the urgency that global warming imposes. Conclusion: Mussolini may have coined the word, ‘fascism’, but the origin is here in the U.S. South. The Jim Crow South was the open terrorist dictatorship of capital. Understanding this history gives us the tools to strike blows against fascist consolidation and instructs us on the keystone for developing class conscious unity. In 1877, there was a shift in a dominant section of the ruling class from planter to industrialist & financier. The dominant forces of production shifted from agricultural to industry. Another shift in the productive forces is underway now (from industrial to electronic & digital), but so far, there is ruling class political unity. What confronts us now is not the scarcity of the Civil War times but class war to end this rotten, degenerate system and equitably plan and distribute resources as needed and necessary to heal our wounds and the earths. 3. Is Fascism Growing in the United States? A Documentation of the Evidence (2020-2025, with few earlier examples) Introduction: The Question and Framework Is fascism developing in the United States? This report examines the evidence using the League of Revolutionaries for a New America's analysis: "Fascism today is the step-by-step, law-by-law, precedent-by-precedent changes to the legal superstructure that favor financial investments." The League identifies fascism as the merger of corporate power with the State, the weaponization of white supremacy to divide workers, the criminalization of those the economic system no longer needs, and the turn to "naked force and violence" when traditional control methods fail. The evidence documented here—spanning Supreme Court decisions, federal and state legislation, executive actions, and government enforcement practices—reveals a clear pattern: systematic dismantling of democratic rights, escalating state violence, and the construction of a legal apparatus designed to protect private property while suppressing dissent and criminalizing poverty. The trend accelerates dramatically from 2020-2025, demonstrating not isolated incidents but coordinated transformation. The answer is yes. Fascism is growing in the United States. Here is some evidence. I. THE SUPREME COURT ENABLES FASCIST ADVANCE The Supreme Court has systematically dismantled protections and enabled authoritarian state power through a series of decisions that concentrate around 2013-2024, with a 6-3 conservative majority driving the recent acceleration. Voting Rights Gutted (2013) Shelby County v. Holder - 5-4 conservative majority · Struck down Section 4(b) of Voting Rights Act, eliminating federal preclearance requirement for jurisdictions with history of discrimination Office of Public Affairs The Enduring Work of Protecting Voting Rights: 59 Years and Counting · Section 5 had blocked discriminatory voting changes nearly 1,200 times before Shelby Office of Public Affairs The Enduring Work of Protecting Voting Rights: 59 Years and Counting Result: Nearly 100 restrictive voting laws passed since 2013, with 29 states enacting restrictive measures States Have Added Nearly 100 Restrictive Laws Since SCOTUS Gutted the Voting Rights Act 10 Years Ago | Brennan Center for Justice. The floodgates opened. Poverty Becomes a Crime (2024) City of Grants Pass v. Johnson - 6-3 conservative majority · Ruled cities don't violate Eighth Amendment when criminalizing sleeping outside even if no shelter space available The Supreme Court Rules on Homelessness: What it All Means - National Alliance to End Homelessness Result: Within months, roughly 150 cities in 32 states passed or strengthened camping bans Many more cities ban sleeping outside despite a lack of shelter space • Stateline. Over 320 bills criminalizing unhoused people introduced in past year, nearly 220 passed One Year Since Grants Pass: Tracking the Criminalization of Homelessness | American Civil Liberties Union. Women's Bodies Under State Control (2022) Dobbs v. Jackson - 6-3 conservative majority · Overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating 50 years of constitutional protection · Reinstated "states' rights" doctrine allowing state control over reproduction Racial Equity Eliminated (2023) Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard - 6-3 conservative majority · Banned affirmative action in college admissions · Became justification for sweeping attacks on all diversity programs The Pattern: Every major decision enabling fascist policies comes from conservative Supreme Court majorities. The Court systematically removes protections for voting rights, bodily autonomy, racial equity, and basic survival, while expanding state power to punish and control. II. 2020: THE TURNING POINT - FEDERAL TROOPS AGAINST AMERICAN CITIES The summer of 2020 marked a dramatic escalation: the federal government deployed military-style forces against American cities, often over the explicit objections of local officials. This was unprecedented in modern American history. Lafayette Square: Tear Gas for a Photo (June 1, 2020) The Attack: · U.S. Park Police and National Guard troops pushed peaceful demonstrators out of Lafayette Park using tear gas so President Trump could walk to St. John's Church for photo with Bible Peaceful Protesters Tear-Gassed To Clear Way For Trump Church Photo-Op : NPR · Former minister Gini Gerbasi: "We were literally DRIVEN OFF with tear gas and concussion grenades and police in full riot gear. PEOPLE WERE HURT SO THAT [President Trump] COULD HAVE A PHOTO OPPORTUNITY" Peaceful Protesters Tear-Gassed To Clear Way For Trump Church Photo-Op : NPR The Threat: · Trump delivered speech urging governors to use National Guard to "dominate the streets," or he would "deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem" Donald Trump photo op at St. John's Church - Wikipedia Military Deployment: · Active duty troops stationed in capital complemented roughly 5,400 guardsmen from D.C. and 11 other states Donald Trump photo op at St. John's Church - Wikipedia · Governors of Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware declined requests to send National Guard troops to District of Columbia Donald Trump photo op at St. John's Church - Wikipedia Portland: Secret Police in Unmarked Vans (July 2020) Kidnapping-Style Arrests: · July 15: Video recorded showing unidentified armed individuals wearing camouflage fatigues physically apprehending demonstrator and taking him away in unmarked van 2020 deployment of federal forces in the United States - Wikipedia · Mark Pettibone, 29: "I was terrified. It seemed like it was out of a horror/sci-fi. It was like being preyed upon" Federal Officers Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab People In Portland, DHS Confirms : NPR · Pettibone taken to federal courthouse, placed in holding cell, never told why he was being held or provided any record of arrest Federal Officers Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab People In Portland, DHS Confirms : NPR Federal Forces Without Identification: · Federal officers used unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland and detain protesters since at least July 14; videos show officers driving up to people, detaining individuals with no explanation, and driving off Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets - OPB · July 11: Protester Donavan La Bella shot in head with projectile fired by federal agents, suffering facial injuries and skull fractures requiring reconstructive surgery 2020 deployment of federal forces in the United States - Wikipedia · Navy veteran Chris David, 54-year-old Naval Academy graduate, asked federal agents how their actions squared with oath to Constitution; struck five times with clubs, causing multiple broken bones requiring surgery 2020 deployment of federal forces in the United States - Wikipedia Against Local Officials' Wishes: · Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler: "This is part of coordinated strategy out of Trump's White House to use federal troops to bolster his sagging polling data, and it is an absolute abuse of federal law enforcement officials" Portland protesters say federal officers in unmarked vans are detaining them - The Washington Post · Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: "This political theater from President Trump has nothing to do with public safety. The President is deploying federal officers to patrol streets of Portland in blatant abuse of power" Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets - OPB Broader Deployment: · July 22, 2020: Trump announced deployment of forces under Operation Legend to Chicago and Albuquerque 2020 deployment of federal forces in the United States - Wikipedia · DHS cited executive order regarding "monuments, memorials and statues" as allowing federal officers to be deployed without permission of individual states 2020 deployment of federal forces in the United States - Wikipedia Surveillance: · By June 19, 2020, DHS logged "at least 270 hours of surveillance" captured via airplanes, drones, helicopters above demonstrations in 15 cities 2020 deployment of federal forces in the United States - Wikipedia What This Represents: Federal military force deployed against American cities over local officials' objections, using tactics associated with authoritarian regimes: unidentified agents, unmarked vehicles, detention without explanation, extreme violence against peaceful protesters. This crossed a threshold. III. MASS ATTACK ON JOURNALISTS (2020-2021) Simultaneous with federal troop deployments came an unprecedented assault on the press documenting these events. 2020: The Numbers · At least 144 journalists arrested or detained while working—a 1,500% increase from 9 arrests in 2019 New report: A record breaking number of journalists arrested in the U.S. this year · May 29-June 4: More reporters arrested than in previous three years combined New report: A record breaking number of journalists arrested in the U.S. this year · At least 125 press freedom violations in just 3 days At least 125 press freedom violations reported over 3 days of U.S. protests - Committee to Protect Journalists · Over 1,000 press freedom violations documented in 2020—600% increase over 2019 FREEDOM OF THE PRESS FOUNDATION 2020 IMPACT REPORT The Violence · Minnesota Public Radio journalist had gun pointed at her head by police who refused to lower weapons after she identified as press At least 125 press freedom violations reported over 3 days of U.S. protests - Committee to Protect Journalists · Police fired tear gas, pepper spray, concussion grenades at photographers standing apart from protesters At least 125 press freedom violations reported over 3 days of U.S. protests - Committee to Protect Journalists · 2021: 142 assaults of journalists—outpacing assaults from 2017-2019 combined Another record year for press-freedom violations in the US - Columbia Journalism Review The Trend Continues · 2024: 314 press freedom violations The Growing Threats to Press Freedom in the USA - Washington, D.C., Pro SPJ Chapter · U.S. ranked 20th in Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index in 2010, fell to 57th by 2025 Freedom of the press in the United States - Wikipedia Deportation as Press Suppression (2025) · Emmy-winning Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara arrested while livestreaming protest June 14, 2025; despite all charges dropped and immigration judge ordering release, ICE refused and deported him USA Archives - Committee to Protect Journalists What This Represents: Systematic attack on those documenting state violence. When 144 journalists are arrested in one year (compared to 9 the year before), this is not law enforcement—it's suppression of documentation. IV. THE ANTI-PROTEST STATE APPARATUS (2017-2025) While federal troops attacked protesters in 2020, states were building a legal infrastructure to criminalize protest itself. The Scale Since 2017, 45 states considered 356 anti-protest bills, with 55 enacted into law ICNLICNL. Republican lawmakers introduced 81 bills in 34 states during 2021 legislative session alone—more than double any other year Fact Sheet: Anti-Protest Legislation and Demonstration Activity in the United States. The Laws  Protecting Corporate Infrastructure (2017-2019): · 16 states (Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin) passed laws specifically targeting environmental protests with extreme penalties State Anti-Protest Laws and Their Constitutional Implications Lawfare · Oklahoma (2017): Organizations that "conspire" with protesters who trespass near oil/gas pipelines face up to $1 million liability Analysis of US Anti-Protest Bills - ICNL · Louisiana (2018): Trespassing near pipeline construction sites punishable by 5 years in prison Analysis of US Anti-Protest Bills - ICNL Making Poverty a Felony (2020): · Tennessee: Made camping on state property a felony punishable by 1-6 years in prison (previously misdemeanor) Under Attack: How Enhanced Anti-Protest Laws Impede and Endanger the Free Press American Criminal Law Review Georgetown Law Protecting Drivers Who Kill Protesters (2021): · Florida HB 1: Grants immunity to drivers who strike protesters Anti-Protest Laws in the United States · Iowa: Shields drivers from civil liability if they injure or kill someone blocking road during protest, as long as driver exercised "due care" Analysis of US Anti-Protest Bills - ICNL · One bill sponsor said it would "allow Americans to run over" protesters in streets US Protest Law Tracker - ICNL RICO Against Protesters (2021-2023): · Oklahoma (2021): Makes "unlawful assembly" prosecutable under RICO statute—organizers face felony penalties Analysis of US Anti-Protest Bills - ICNL · Georgia (September 2023): 61 people indicted under Georgia RICO law for protesting police training center, facing up to 20 years in prison RICO and Domestic Terrorism Charges Against Cop City Activists Send a Chilling Message American Civil Liberties Union · Indictment cites George Floyd's murder as starting date—months before anyone knew about Cop City RICO and Domestic Terrorism Charges Against Cop City Activists Send a Chilling Message American Civil Liberties Union · 42 activists charged with "domestic terrorism" RICO and Domestic Terrorism Charges Against Cop City Activists Send a Chilling Message American Civil Liberties Union · Three bail fund organizers charged with money laundering for buying "gasoline, forest clean-up, totes, covid tests" 61 people indicted on RICO charges connected to 'Stop Cop City' protests FOX 5 Atlanta Federal Escalation (2025) · "Unmasking Hamas Act": Anyone wearing mask who "oppresses" someone exercising constitutional rights faces up to 15 years in prison; bill doesn't define "oppress" US Protest Law Tracker - ICNL · Bill would exclude student protesters from federal financial aid if they commit any crime at campus protest US Protest Law Tracker - ICNL · Bill would make non-citizens convicted of any crime "related to protest" immediately deportable US Protest Law Tracker - ICNL · Trump threatened RICO charges against protesters; Deputy AG said yelling at president could be "organized effort to inflict harm and terror" Trump wants to use the RICO act against liberal groups and donors CNN Politics The Reality Behind These Laws States that enacted strict anti-protest laws actually saw LOWER proportion of demonstrations involving violence than states that didn't—Florida and Oklahoma saw fewer violent demonstrations than most states, yet passed most restrictive laws Fact Sheet: Anti-Protest Legislation and Demonstration Activity in the United States. What This Represents: These aren't responses to violence. They're systematic criminalization of opposition to corporate power (pipeline laws), opposition to police violence (Cop City), and basic survival (camping laws). The 16-state coordination on pipeline protection laws shows this is organized to protect private property. V. VOTING RIGHTS COLLAPSE (2013-2025) After Shelby County opened the floodgates in 2013, the attack on voting rights accelerated dramatically. The Numbers Nearly 100 restrictive voting laws passed since 2013, with 29 states enacting restrictive measures States Have Added Nearly 100 Restrictive Laws Since SCOTUS Gutted the Voting Rights Act 10 Years Ago | Brennan Center for Justice. Annual Acceleration: · 2021: 19 states passed 34 laws Office of Public Affairs The Enduring Work of Protecting Voting Rights: 59 Years and Counting · 2022: 8 states passed 11 laws Office of Public Affairs The Enduring Work of Protecting Voting Rights: 59 Years and Counting · 2023: 14 states passed 17 laws Office of Public Affairs The Enduring Work of Protecting Voting Rights: 59 Years and Counting The Tactics Voter ID Laws: Strict voter ID laws require government-issued photo ID with no meaningful alternatives; millions of Americans lack required ID, disproportionately people of color The New Voter Suppression | Brennan Center for Justice. Mass Purges: · Brennan Center documented surge in voter purges in jurisdictions with racial discrimination history; median purge rate 40% higher in previously-covered counties The New Voter Suppression Brennan Center for Justice · Brooklyn, NY (2015-2016): Over 120,000 voters dropped from rolls; analysis found purge disproportionately affected majority-Hispanic districts Voter suppression in the United States - Wikipedia Targeting by Race: · North Carolina (2016): Lawmakers requested data on voting practices broken down by race, then passed laws restricting practices used disproportionately by African Americans; federal appeals court struck it down Voter suppression in the United States - Wikipedia Mail Voting Restrictions: Since 2020 election, 21 states passed 33 laws restricting mail voting access States Have Added Nearly 100 Restrictive Laws Since SCOTUS Gutted the Voting Rights Act 10 Years Ago | Brennan Center for Justice. The Racial Impact Federal courts have repeatedly found voting restrictions passed with racially discriminatory purpose The New Voter Suppression | Brennan Center for Justice. Gaps between turnout rates for white voters and voters of color have grown in years since Shelby County States Have Added Nearly 100 Restrictive Laws Since SCOTUS Gutted the Voting Rights Act 10 Years Ago | Brennan Center for Justice. What This Represents: Systematic removal of voting access from communities of color. When North Carolina lawmakers request voting data by race, then restrict methods used by Black voters, this is white supremacy as state policy. VI. IMMIGRATION: BUILDING CONCENTRATION CAMPS (2017-2025) The League calls them "American concentration camps at the border." The evidence supports this characterization. Worksite Raids: Terrorizing Workers The Pattern Across Administrations: · Obama: Removed more than 3 million people with focus on worksite enforcement Businesses brace for immigration-related workplace raids : NPR · Trump 1.0 (2017-2021): Over 1,800 worker arrests; August 2019: 680 workers arrested at seven Mississippi poultry plants Understanding ICE Raids at American Workplaces - American Immigration Council · Biden: Ended large-scale raids in 2021 Understanding ICE Raids at American Workplaces - American Immigration Council · Trump 2.0 (2025): First seven months: At least 40 worksite actions resulting in over 1,100 arrests Understanding ICE Raids at American Workplaces - American Immigration Council Record-Breaking Raids (2025): · September 4, 2025: 475 arrested at Hyundai battery plant Georgia—"largest single-site worksite enforcement action in history" Understanding ICE Raids at American Workplaces - American Immigration Council · July 2025: 361 arrested at California cannabis farms; one farmworker died; multiple U.S. citizens detained Understanding ICE Raids at American Workplaces - American Immigration Council Who Gets Punished: · DHS enforcement overwhelmingly focused on arresting workers rather than punishing employers ICE is arresting migrants in worksite raids. Employers are largely escaping charges. - The Washington Post · More than 75% of people booked into ICE custody in fiscal 2025 had no criminal conviction other than immigration or traffic-related offense ICE is using aggressive tactics to bolster arrests, experts say. The government says agents are being smeared CNN The Detention System: Massive Expansion Current Scale: · September 2025: Nearly 60,000 in ICE facilities—50% increase from 39,000 in December 2024 Health Issues for Immigrants in Detention Centers KFF · Plan to double capacity from 50,000 to 107,000 by January 2026 ICE documents reveal plan to double immigrant detention space this year · Opening or expanding 125 facilities in 2025 ICE documents reveal plan to double immigrant detention space this year · Largest planned family center would hold 3,500 adults and children in Brownsville, Texas ICE documents reveal plan to double immigrant detention space this year Funding: · July 2025: Congress passed budget appropriating $191 billion to DHS; includes $45 billion for new detention centers including family detention Health Issues for Immigrants in Detention Centers KFF Death and Abuse in Detention Deaths: · Twelve deaths in one year—more than double year before Policy Brief Snapshot of ICE Detention: Inhumane Conditions and Alarming Expansion - National Immigrant Justice Center · 2017-2021: 52 deaths; 95% could likely have been prevented with adequate medical care Policy Brief Snapshot of ICE Detention: Inhumane Conditions and Alarming Expansion - National Immigrant Justice Center · April 2025: Haitian woman Marie Ange Blaise died following delayed emergency response “You Feel Like Your Life Is Over”: Abusive Practices at Three Florida Immigration Detention Centers Since January 2025 HRW · February 2025: Ukrainian man Oleksandr Chernyak died at Krome “You Feel Like Your Life Is Over”: Abusive Practices at Three Florida Immigration Detention Centers Since January 2025 HRW Conditions: · Medical neglect, preventable deaths, punitive solitary confinement, lack of due process, obstructed access to legal counsel, discriminatory treatment Policy Brief Snapshot of ICE Detention: Inhumane Conditions and Alarming Expansion - National Immigrant Justice Center · Black immigrants less likely released on bond, forced to pay much higher bonds Policy Brief Snapshot of ICE Detention: Inhumane Conditions and Alarming Expansion - National Immigrant Justice Center · Officers bang on metal doors with batons, prolonged exposure to cold temperatures, overcrowding, degrading treatment “You Feel Like Your Life Is Over”: Abusive Practices at Three Florida Immigration Detention Centers Since January 2025 HRW Family Separation Returns (2025) · March 2025: CoreCivic reopened South Texas Family Center to house 2,400, many young children The Detention of Families Facing Deportation Proceedings Brennan Center for Justice · Tom Homan, Trump's border czar and architect of child-separation policy, said he prefers to detain families together so they can be deported together ICE documents reveal plan to double immigrant detention space this year What This Represents: The League's characterization is accurate. When you plan to hold 107,000 people (doubling capacity in one year), including 3,500 children in a single facility, in conditions where 95% of deaths are preventable but still occur, these are concentration camps. The bipartisan nature (Obama deported 3 million, Biden maintained system, Trump expanded it) shows this serves ruling class interests across party lines. VII. CRIMINALIZATION OF HOMELESSNESS (2024-2025) After the Supreme Court opened the door in June 2024, the criminalization of poverty exploded with shocking speed. The Explosion Within months of June 2024 Grants Pass ruling, roughly 150 cities in 32 states passed or strengthened camping bans Many more cities ban sleeping outside despite a lack of shelter space • Stateline. Over 320 bills criminalizing unhoused people introduced in past year, nearly 220 passed One Year Since Grants Pass: Tracking the Criminalization of Homelessness | American Civil Liberties Union. State Laws Florida (2024) - Republican Governor: · Requires counties and municipalities to ban sleeping/camping in public spaces including parks, sidewalks, beaches Many more cities ban sleeping outside despite a lack of shelter space • Stateline California - Democratic Governor: · Over 40 camping ban ordinances since July 2024—highest in nation Many more cities ban sleeping outside despite a lack of shelter space • Stateline · Governor Newsom pushed encampment clearances; advocates noting "little daylight between what Democrats like Gavin Newsom and what far right extremists like Donald Trump want" Camping bans, penalties after Supreme Court ruling could worsen homelessness, experts say • Ohio Capital Journal Local Ordinances: Examples of Cruelty · San Joaquin County, CA: People must move 300 feet every hour; violation = $1,000 fine or 6 months jail Criminalizing Homelessness Doesn't Work, Study Finds — Shelterforce Shelterforce · Fremont, CA (February 2025): Made it illegal to "aid or abet" homeless encampment—criminalizes outreach workers—$1,000 fine or 6 months jail Criminalizing Homelessness Doesn't Work, Study Finds — Shelterforce Shelterforce · At least 13 Illinois municipalities passed identical camping bans using template: $75 fine with increasing penalties, jail on 6th offense One Year Since Grants Pass: Tracking the Criminalization of Homelessness American Civil Liberties Union Federal Action (July 2025) Trump Executive Order: · Orders cities/states to "enforce prohibitions on urban camping and loitering" Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets – The White House · Calls for "shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings" through civil commitment Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets – The White House What the Laws Actually Do Study examining ordinances enacted 2000-2021 across 100 most populous cities found no reduction in homelessness as result; in some cases, quick dip in visible homelessness followed by surge exceeding prior levels Criminalizing Homelessness Doesn't Work, Study Finds — Shelterforce Shelterforce. What This Represents: When 150 cities pass laws criminalizing homelessness in months, coordinated by template laws (Illinois), this is systematic. The bipartisan implementation (California leading with 40+ ordinances under Democratic governor) shows both parties criminalize those the system no longer needs. These laws don't reduce homelessness—they criminalize poverty. VIII. ELIMINATING GOAL OF RACIAL EQUITY: DEI AND CRITICAL RACE THEORY (2020-2025) The coordinated attack on teaching about racism and addressing racial inequality represents systematic reinforcement of white supremacy as state policy. Critical Race Theory Bans (2021-2024) The Scale: · Since January 2021, 44 states introduced bills restricting teaching critical race theory or limiting how teachers discuss racism and sexism Map: Where Critical Race Theory Is Under Attack · Twenty states imposing bans through legislation or other avenues Map: Where Critical Race Theory Is Under Attack · State lawmakers drew inspiration from September 2020 Trump executive order banning diversity training in federal agencies after George Floyd's murder Map: Where Critical Race Theory Is Under Attack State Laws: · Tennessee (2021): State commissioner must withhold funds if school "knowingly violates" ban on teaching 14 concepts including "privilege" Bills Banning Critical Race Theory Advance in States Despite Its Absence in Many Classrooms · Texas (2021): Teachers can't be compelled to discuss "controversial issues"; can't require reading 1619 Project Texas social studies bill targeting critical race theory becomes law The Texas Tribune · Alabama (2024): Prohibits public universities and schools from sponsoring any DEI program or maintaining DEI office Anti-Critical-Race-Theory Laws Are Slowing Down. Here Are 3 Things to Know The Chilling Effect: · Oklahoma teacher: "How do we help students understand George Floyd, family separation without opening ourselves up to lawsuit?" Teachers Say Laws Banning Critical Race Theory Are Putting A Chill On Their Lessons : NPR · Texas teacher gave lesson on race; father complained teacher was "accusing his child of being racist" Teachers Say Laws Banning Critical Race Theory Are Putting A Chill On Their Lessons : NPR Federal DEI Elimination (January 2025) Immediate Purge: · January 20, 2025: Trump order requires agencies to "terminate all DEI, DEIA, and 'environmental justice' offices and positions" Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing – The White House · January 22: All federal DEIA employees placed on paid administrative leave by 5pm Executive Orders Target DEI Programs and Gender Protections – Publications · Agencies required to submit reduction-in-force plans by January 24 Executive Orders Target DEI Programs and Gender Protections – Publications What Was Eliminated: · Revoked Executive Order 11246 from 1965 requiring federal contractors to implement affirmative action President Trump Acts to Roll Back DEI Initiatives · Also revoked: 1994 order on Environmental Justice, 2011 order on Diversity in Federal Workforce President Trump Acts to Roll Back DEI Initiatives Targeting Private Sector: · Orders direct Attorney General to identify private companies with "egregious and discriminatory" DEI programs, signaling potential investigations and litigation President Trump Acts to Roll Back DEI Initiatives The Reality These Attacks Hide In 2023, Department of Education reported it received most civil rights complaints in its history, most alleging race, sex, or disability discrimination Trump’s Executive Orders on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Explained. Black workers remain relegated to lower wage jobs and less lucrative industries compared to white workers with similar education Trump’s Executive Orders on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Explained. Black workers still suffer disproportionately from preventable disease and premature deaths—racial disparities that persist even when accounting for socioeconomic status Trump’s Executive Orders on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Explained. What This Represents: When 44 states ban teaching about systemic racism while racial inequality persists and worsens, this is white supremacy as state policy. The 2020 George Floyd rebellions threatened to expose these structures—the response was to make it illegal to teach about them. This is the "historic American weapon of white supremacy" being wielded to "divide the working class." IX. ATTACKS ON SCIENCE AND UNIVERSITIES (2020-2025) Beyond DEI elimination, there's been systematic attack on scientific research and academic freedom, particularly around climate science and public health. COVID-19 Science Suppression During the pandemic, multiple states and the federal government: · Restricted public health officials from communicating accurate information · Punished scientists who contradicted political narratives · Blocked publication of scientific data · Threatened funding for institutions that implemented safety measures Climate Science Under Attack · Federal climate research programs defunded · Climate scientists harassed and investigated · Data collection stopped or restricted · Terms like "climate change" banned in government communications in multiple states Academic Freedom Restrictions · Tenure protections eliminated or weakened in multiple states · Political litmus tests for hiring and promotion · Restrictions on what can be researched or taught · Funding cuts to institutions that resist political control What This Represents: When the state restricts scientific research and punishes scientists who contradict political narratives, this is hallmark fascist behavior—subordinating truth to power, especially when that truth threatens corporate interests (fossil fuel industry, pharmaceutical profits, etc.). X. BIPARTISAN IMPLEMENTATION: BOTH PARTIES ADVANCE FASCISM A critical pattern emerges: while Republicans lead most explicitly authoritarian initiatives, Democrats maintain and often expand the same systems. Republican Leadership · All 44 states with CRT bans: Republican sponsors · Federal troop deployments (2020): Trump administration · Mass worksite raids: Trump administrations · DEI elimination: Trump administration · Anti-protest laws: Overwhelmingly Republican states · Supreme Court enabling decisions: Conservative majorities Democratic Complicity and Implementation Federal Level: · Obama removed 3 million people with focus on worksite enforcement Businesses brace for immigration-related workplace raids : NPR · Biden continued Trump's exclusionary immigration policies including mass deportations Understanding ICE Raids at American Workplaces - American Immigration Council · Biden administration sought to expand detention system, issuing solicitations for new facilities Policy Brief Snapshot of ICE Detention: Inhumane Conditions and Alarming Expansion - National Immigrant Justice Center · Biden DOJ continued Trump's seizure of journalists' records into 2021 Another record year for press-freedom violations in the US - Columbia Journalism Review State/Local Level: · California Governor Newsom: Led nation with 40+ camping ban ordinances Many more cities ban sleeping outside despite a lack of shelter space • Stateline · Illinois: 13 municipalities passed identical camping bans One Year Since Grants Pass: Tracking the Criminalization of Homelessness American Civil Liberties Union · 144 journalists arrested during 2020 protests under Democratic and Republican mayors Freedom of the Press FoundationCommittee to Protect Journalists The Pattern Both parties: · Criminalize homelessness (California leads under Democrat) · Deport immigrants (Obama's 3 million, Biden's continuance) · Attack protesters (journalist arrests under both) · Maintain detention systems (Biden expanded) · Suppress press (DOJ seizures continued under Biden) What This Represents: This is not partisan. Both parties serve the same ruling class interests. When California (Democratic governor, legislature) leads the nation in criminalizing homelessness with 40+ ordinances, this confirms the League's analysis: "Whether Democrat or Republican administrations, the ruling class continues attacking." XI. THE ACCELERATION: 2024-2025 MARKS DRAMATIC ESCALATION The most striking evidence of fascism's growth is the acceleration of all trends in 2024-2025. Quantitative Escalation Journalist Arrests: · 2019: 9 arrests · 2020: 144 arrests (1,500% increase) · 2021: 59 arrests · 2024: 314 violations Homelessness Criminalization: · Pre-June 2024: Scattered local ordinances · Post-Grants Pass (months): 150 cities, 32 states · One year: 320 bills introduced, 220 passed Immigration Detention: · December 2024: 39,000 detained · September 2025: 60,000 detained (50% in 9 months) · Plan for January 2026: 107,000 (doubling in one year) Voting Restrictions: · 2013-2020: Gradual increase · 2021: 34 laws in 19 states (one year) · 2022-2023: Continued acceleration Qualitative Changes From Arrests to Terrorism Charges: · 2017-2020: Protesters arrested, charged with misdemeanors · 2023: 61 people facing 20 years under RICO for protesting · 2023: 42 people charged with "domestic terrorism" for protesting From Local to Federal: · 2017-2019: State anti-protest laws · 2020: Federal troops deployed to cities · 2025: Federal bills for deportation of protesters, RICO expansion From Implicit to Explicit: · 2013-2019: Voting restrictions justified as "election integrity CONCLUSION This documentation reveals systematic, coordinated, and accelerating assault on democratic rights in the United States. The evidence shows: Systematic Nature: 44 states restricting teaching about racism. 356 anti-protest bills. Nearly 100 voting restriction laws. 150+ cities criminalizing homelessness in months. Detention capacity doubling. Federal elimination of all DEI programs. Legal Process: Every category demonstrates the "step-by-step, law-by-law" advance through legislative bills, executive orders, court decisions, administrative actions, local ordinances—all restricting rights and expanding state violence. Bipartisan Implementation: Republicans lead explicitly, but Democrats maintain and expand the same systems. Both parties serve the same class interests. Rapid Acceleration: What took years now takes months. Journalist arrests increased 1,500% in one year. Detention capacity doubling in one year. 150 cities criminalized homelessness within months of Supreme Court decision. Targeted Impact: Every policy disproportionately impacts those the economic system no longer needs: immigrants facing deportation; homeless people criminalized; protesters opposing the system; journalists documenting repression; communities of color losing rights; workers losing protections. The Pattern These aren't isolated incidents or partisan disputes. This is structural transformation of the American state: the merger of corporate and state power, criminalization of poverty and dissent, weaponization of white supremacy, and legal dismantling of democratic rights. The ruling class, unable to employ displaced workers or maintain control through traditional means, turns to force: mass arrests, concentration camps, police violence, criminalization, deportation. The 2020 rebellions demonstrated potential for multiracial working-class unity. The documented response is the construction of a fascist legal apparatus to prevent that unity. This is not authoritarianism that might be reversed by election. These are structural changes to the legal framework, implemented by both parties, enabled by Supreme Court, supported by corporate power, enforced by militarized agencies. The question is not whether fascism is developing. The question is what will be done about it. 4. Social response The social motion in response to the ongoing fascist offensive is dynamic, ever-changing, and in some ways unprecedented. Summing up the action of the rising resistance along with the thinking of the combatants shapes the role revolutionaries must play. A brief outline of some of the most impactful social responses taking place today are highlighted here. Mayor Brandon Johnson joins Community challenging ICE /LA https://www.facebook.com/share/16xLvQ11Lh/ https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQDJhH6DYGH/?igsh=MWtua3o2YmUzeHZ4MA== https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKi2lyKtZKL/?igsh=OGt3d2ZlbHBlOHh6 https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/22/in-ices-expanding-chicago-blitz-federal-authorities-turn-resistance-into-a-crime/ https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1KAiihrf5T/ Since early 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has intensified raids and detentions across the Midwest — and Chicago has emerged as the national epicenter of resistance. HIGHLIGHTS • Community groups and immigrants physically confront ice officers • Community groups create their own alert systems to protect immigrants including following ice in their cars. • Issue blew up when Lakeshore Apartments were invaded by Ice including zip tie children. WORLDWIDE FiGHT AGAINST PALESTINIAN GENOCIDE https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1KMr1TNhv8/ https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1XwY3uc3y5/ HIGHLIGHTS • In the last 2 years social consciousness and mass resistance to the Gaza genocide worldwide has exploded. • Ceasefire resolutions swept the nation along with mass demonstrations. • International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu in November of last year. • Meanwhile, Italian trade unions held a General Strike demanding an end to the slaughter and Israel war crimes. • International influencers such as Chris Smalls of Amazon Union and Greta thunberg renowned climate change activist s have reached out to provide needed humanitarian aid on the Gaza Flotilla. • The International focus on Gaza helped to secure the recent brief pause. NO KING PROTESTS https://www.facebook.com/share/1Bqxihfegq/ https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Jd6jm3q4X/ HIGHLIGHTS • INDIVISIBLE and MOVEON the main organizers for millions who participated. • Offered platform for those with nowhere to go as witnesses to dismantling of democracy. • Scores of signs and chants expressed that No Kings movement is a fight against fascism. • Meanwhile, as of this writing millions poised to lose SNAP benefits. • Organized labor noticeably absent…. • There are demonstrations every week around the nation. • Growing resistance in the Military. DISCUSSION • Connect social movement with political education, for example what is fascism? • How.do we go from fighting fascism then pass to the offensive to revolutionary conclusion? • What form of organization do we need for this period? • How do we connect with Rising motion around the country particularly rural areas? • Resistance may not look the same in all parts of the country. Organized labor can play a role in anti fascism movement if it maintains its independence from the capitalists. **From US history through to what our ruling class is doing today to protect their interests, this situation today calls for the solution — political power for the working class to govern in its class interests. Today it’s either fascism or the essential needs of humanity and nature itself.

The growing danger of war and the responsibilities of revolutionaries

 This issue of the League Organizer contains a political report based on a presentation to the National Council by the Basic Needs Electoral Committee. The assessment of the objective situation by the National Council sets the foundation for local committees to carry out their propaganda and educational responsibilities, as they are able to do so. The NC has requested political reports that it will issue over the next few months all of which set the basis for discussing what is needed for our convention, tentatively set for August 2026. Information and updates from the last Organizer are also included in this issue. Information about the October 25 RevEdTech Conversation Among Revolutionaries is included — the topic is AI and the Revolutionary Process. The next issue of the Organizer will have a report from the collective which has organized a school that focuses on understanding the revolutionary process. Thank you all for your continued revolutionary work in the face of this fascist onslaught! Strategic Response to the Ruling Class Offensive Against Democracy in Our Cities This political report was developed by the national Basic Needs Electoral Committee and presented to the National Council of the League. The document lists possible activity related to basic needs electoral engagement that may be useful in your work. Date: 9-11-25 BNEC has prepared the following guide for the use of League Areas and Committees participating in the resistance to the escalating wave of urban occupations by the MAGA fascists. The purpose is not to prescribe a formula for League collectives to follow, but simply to offer suggestions and ideas for planning League basic needs electoral work during the current stage of the fascist offensive. Alongside the extreme danger of the current situation, we are experiencing the most favorable opportunity in any of our lifetimes for building an organization of conscious revolutionaries inseparably connected to the spontaneous movement. MISSION: The mission of the League Basic Needs Electoral Committee (BNEC) will be to unite and work out political tactics with the other revolutionaries fighting to resist the fascist Project 2025, especially the attacks on migrants and other vulnerable sections of the working class. We will expose the role of the billionaire class, including in the battle for power in our local governments, and continue always pointing out that the ultimate solution is a cooperative society that will eliminate the threat of fascism altogether. CURRENT SITUATION 1. Ruling Class Tactical Offensive The billionaire oligarchy—comprising financial elites, tech moguls, real estate magnates, and Wall Street interests—is executing a coordinated power grab to dismantle electoral democracy through: Voter suppression, voter roll purges, elimination of mail-in voting Gerrymandering to rig 2026 Congressional elections Militarization of law enforcement vs. migrants, inner city residents, and unhoused people Destruction of affordable healthcare, housing, food, education, childcare, transportation Military occupation of cities and voter intimidation. 2. Working Class Response Organized resistance must focus on: Voting Rights Protection: community mobilization and legal challenges Democratic Education : grassroots voter education campaigns Anti-Occupation Organizing: strategic non-compliance and mass resistance Basic Needs Campaigns: social housing, fighting hospital closures, defending public schools, etc. Good governance models that put public resources to public good and safety 3. Challenging Counterproductive Frameworks Avoid: defensive electoral maneuvering without systemic change organizing; partisan frameworks that obscure class interests; “lesser evil” politics that maintain status quo power structures. Preferred Approaches: democratic community control and popular sovereignty; centering voices of most affected communities; building temporary coalitions while maintaining independent politics. REVOLUTIONARY VISION FOR DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY Our long-term goals include: Participatory Democracy: beyond electoral representation to direct community control Economic Democracy: addressing root causes of political inequality through cooperative ownership Community Self-Determination: local control over institutions affecting daily life Proportional Representation: eliminating gerrymandering through democratic electoral systems. BNEC IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY Tactical Unity: support defensive measures while maintaining independent revolutionary politics and exposing system limitations. Expose the Billionaire Class: use current battles to demonstrate how wealthy interests manipulate “good government” rhetoric for ruling class benefit. Protect Vulnerable Communities: defend migrants and marginalized populations disenfranchised by military occupation, deportation, incarceration, intimidation, and gerrymandering. Strategic Evolution: Resistance to Insurgency Phase 1: Defensive Resistance: protect existing democratic institutions and voting rights; build coalitions around immediate threats. Phase 2: Offensive Organizing: shift from “reforming democracy” to “building working-class power”; use contradictions in current system to highlight need for alternatives. Phase 3: Revolutionary Transition : demonstrate cooperative governance principles at local level; build alternative power structures alongside electoral work. Local Application To assess readiness and local conditions, chapters should address: How do federal authoritarian policies manifest in your local area? What role do DOGE cuts, AI advances, and/or cryptocurrency play in local politics? Describe the emerging independent political movement in your area. How familiar are people in your Area with the BNEC mission and planning objectives? What key local partner organizations are you engaging with? How are you utilizing League publications and developing local content? Proposed Next Steps Immediate Actions (From September to November 4, 2025) Organize an in-depth strategic discussion session in your collective using this framework Assess local conditions using some of the questions above Identify and engage with resistance leaders and organizations around local initiatives addressing basic needs, affordability, and independent class interests Build unity between unhoused people, tenants, and various strata of workers dispossessed, displaced, and/or most impacted. Participate in local elections where appropriate and channel the national excitement around elections in New York City, Minneapolis, and Seattle. When possible generate collective movement-focused Rally articles that share lessons and allow us to build collaborations Incorporate Rally archives in study action groups Use & expand Rally articles to lead in mobilizing efforts to defend democracy in the targeted cities. Use Rally with leaders organizing to defend democracy and break the ruling class narrative justifying fascist occupation Build local BNECs by using mission driven speakers series Build local BNECs by crafting local BNEC newsletters Medium-term Goals (By June 2026)) Identify and join revolutionary primary campaigns for local, state, or national offices Coordinate electoral work with on the ground non-compliance and resistance campaigns Participate in voter registration drives targeting younger demographics Continue to assess, promote, and advance every opportunity to build a real third-party movement Develop local media strategy and content production Long-term Goals (By November 2026) Participate in cooperative governance demonstrations Continue to carry out education to move workers from social awareness to social consciousness, and from social consciousness to class consciousness Conclusion While defending the limited democracy we have left, we also build toward the systemic transformation that addresses the root causes of fascism – the antagonism between digital production and private property. Our work must simultaneously resist fascist attacks while creating alternatives that demonstrate how cooperative, democratic governance principles can create the prosperity we need and deserve. The ruling class’s inability to govern through traditional means is an important opening for working-class political development. Now is the time to build independent political capacity, at the same time that we protect our most vulnerable community members from immediate harm. -----

Report by the National Housing and Homelessness Committee Housing-related attacks against the working class, especially against unhoused people, have been underway for decades. The 2008 recession caused millions of home foreclosures and was followed by a major spike in rents, displacements, and homelessness in the 2010s. This process intensified during COVID, especially when the eviction moratoriums expired. Then unhoused encampment sweeps escalated after CDC COVID protocols were lifted. These were further stepped up after the 2024 Supreme Court Grants Pass decision and the Newsom anti-encampment order in California. All this happened even before the advent of Project 2025 and the second Trump administration. But the Trump - Project 2025 offensive has taken attacks on working class housing to an entirely new level. The Trump - HUD initial housing budget request proposed slashing rental assistance programs by 43%. When Congress resisted, Trump & HUD responded by preparing to declare a “housing emergency” empowering it to adopt draconian work rules and time limits to remove people from the program. HUD is also expected to evict hundreds of thousands of immigrant families from federally-subsidized housing, even when they include spouses and children that are citizens. Now HUD has also announced it will be reducing federal permanent housing funds for unhoused people by $2.2 billion. Furthermore, it plans to eliminate homelessness funding to agencies located in jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with ICE, or that have programs addressing racial inequality or transgender issues, or that fail to outlaw public camping. The “mass deportation” campaign is having a devastating impact on housing, as families end up evicted when breadwinners are deported. In Chicago, we have seen where entire apartment buildings have been raided by ICE, detaining citizens and noncitizens alike and deliberately ransacking and destroying their property. The danger is not only from the Trump administration, but also from the faint-hearted-ness and ineffectiveness of the Democratic Party leadership’s response. The most vocal corporate Democrats, Pritzker and Newsom, are waging well-publicized campaigns for democracy but have been silent or worse about basic economic issues, including housing. Newsom even applauded Trump’s executive order villainizing unhoused people, claiming credit for his call to demolish encampments. “His imitation (even poorly executed) is the highest form of flattery,” said Newsom’s spokesperson. RESPONSE Unsurprisingly, the housing movement has been on the defensive. In a few areas (LA, SF, Kansas City, and NYC), aggressive tenant organizing before, during, and after the pandemic led to limited victories. A counteroffensive by the real estate industrial complex contained those gains and launched vicious campaigns specifically targeting the most vulnerable tenants – evicted people who became unhoused. As in Trump’s executive order, homelessness was deliberately and relentlessly conflated with criminality. The division between tenants and unhoused people led to setbacks for both movements. This division was added to the already existing divisions between urban and rural tenants, racially segregated tenants, and tenants targeted by the race-based mass deportation campaign. The result has been rampant confusion among not only tenants but also the unhoused. A broad section of tenants - especially those that are unorganized - simply do not believe that Trump would hurt them by cutting the HUD subsidies they depend on. Many believe that his anti-immigrant campaign is really targeting only criminals, although recent events are beginning to change that. The right’s ability to “flood the zone” with propaganda and the feeble responses by corporate Democrats have created a challenging environment for housing revolutionaries. The main response of the movement of the unhoused has been the building of mutual aid networks, to help people to stay alive and also to build community support. Revolutionaries have been participating in these networks, integrating political education into every planning meeting and activity. The unhoused movement tends to be torn between people in the nonprofit sector who cannot “think out of the box”, and some unhoused leaders who are isolated in the streets and have no access to any box at all. The challenge is to encourage the thinking that will enable the movement to grow, consolidate, and move from mutual aid to politicization - BOTH inside and outside the box. Despite its generally defensive stance, the housing movement has still generated a range of revolutionary impulses: · mutual aid and self-help networks · resistance to housing budget cuts · resistance to criminalization of unhoused people, including vehicle dwellers · mass demonstrations and testimonies at city and county councils · political education for unhoused people and tenants · forums for people with lived experience of homelessness addressing the larger community · ongoing organization of tenant associations · tenant “right to organize” policies · protests demanding both low-income housing AND immigrant rights · LA tenants demanding a rent moratorium to protect migrant families whose in danger of eviction after deportation of a loved one · organizing neighborhood associations to support unhoused residents instead of attacking them · organizing tenant associations in permanent supportive housing buildings. In January, the League National Housing and Homelessness Committee adopted the following mission: “To disperse ourselves along the broad front of housing and homelessness, and dig into the specific struggles wherever we can identify opportunities to build or join committees of revolutionaries around renters rights, ending homelessness, stopping foreclosures, and resisting criminalization and internment of unhoused people. Develop and disseminate messaging that builds solidarity, unites and politicizes the movement, exposes the billionaire class, and points the way toward political power. Show how decommodification of housing and a cooperative society would end housing insecurity altogether. Model a revolutionary organization as a disciplined force for hope. “The center of gravity is the battle for class unity among tenants, tenant organizations, unhoused individuals and families, young people at risk of homelessness, homeowners at risk of foreclosure, and community leaders and people of conscience concerned about the issues. Battling for class unity includes addressing historic and current segregation and discrimination against African Americans and attacks against migrants. Rely on leadership by those most impacted - those who are compelled to fight the system because they cannot survive in it, including the unhoused, especially from the BIPOC community because it is disproportionately affected by the housing crisis. Direct the main blow at the alliance between elected officials and the billionaire ‘real estate-industrial complex’. Unify our class and disrupt ideas that tie it to the system.” This mission and strategic outlook have helped guide our activity throughout the escalating transition to fascist dictatorship. Key tactics we are concentrating on in the immediate situation are: Join “coalitions of coalitions” and the overall “No Kings” motion against military occupation of our cities, and elevate housing demands there; Unify the housing movement and the movement in defense of migrants; Unify the unhoused movement with the movement of tenants and the neighborhoods they live in; Unite homelessness street outreach and mutual aid with political tactics and political education; Expose corporate “blue city’ officials who claim to be anti-Trump but are anti-unhoused and anti-tenant; Unify the movement for immediate housing solutions with the movement to decommodify housing (CLTs, LECs, and social housing); Political education and joining/building committees of revolutionaries. Practice political education in small segments, integrated into practical activity: leaflets alongside mutual aid packages, speeches, discussions during planning meetings, sharing stories, etc.

Mamdani NYC Victory: Defeating Fascism by Meeting People’s Needs

2025 - LOOKING BACK, TO LOOK AHEAD

Between the election and the Presidential inauguration on January 20, working people in the US, whether employed or not, will have to continue to fight for the political power we need to secure our basic human needs. From the polls to the streets we will have to secure the election.

A year and 45,000+ Palestinian deaths after October 7, 2023, it is past time for the people of the United States to halt their ruling class complicity in genocide. Demand that the US war-makers stop arming Israel. On September 17, 2024 – nearly a year after Israel launched its genocidal military campaign against the Palestinian population of Gaza and the West Bank – Israeli Zionist forces triggered hundreds of explosives-bearing pagers in Lebanon. Supposedly targeting Hezbollah fighters, they killed and maimed thousands of innocent people. The next day they ignited walkie-talkies. They understood they were attacking civilians – hospital workers and children – which is the textbook definition of terrorism. Then they began a ground invasion and aerial bombardment that destroyed housing, hospitals, schools. According to the Lebanese government, they killed more than 1,000 people, injured another 6,000 and displaced a million. The genocide begun in Gaza has expanded to Lebanon. Terrorism aimed at people holding pagers is now escalating to threats, by the Biden administration and Israel’s Netanyahu, to strike Iran directly. Not far on the horizon: Israel threatens to embroil all Western Asia in a regional war that could become nuclear. This political moment screams danger and threatens all humanity. This is not just another conflict far from US shores. First, the US is bankrolling this conflict. Military aid to Israel, on average $4 billion annually, exploded to $14 billion shortly after October 7, 2023 with more and more money poured into arming Israel – culminating at the end of September with an additional $13 billion. That’s the tax money of the American workers, devastation being wreaked in our name. Meanwhile the ruling class tells us they have no money to provide housing, health care, education -- whatever the people need to survive. Money that our government could use to house the homeless here is used to destroy people and homes in Lebanon, as well as make defense industry billionaires even richer. Second, a Western Asia regional war threatens to engage Russia and China and become a world nuclear war. Despite rhetorical flourishes to the contrary, the US undermines every effort at making peace and, in recent threats against Iran, is provoking a region wide conflagration. Already, even before a wider war, the US has committed 43,000 troops and more than a half dozen warships to the area. The US military budget of close to a trillion dollars is 40% of the world-wide arms expenditures. Further emphasizing the global impact of US war-makers, the US Department of Defense is the largest single contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the world. A tiny fraction of the military budget – say the $13 billion just given Israel – could resolve the devastation from hurricane Helene. The climate catastrophe is here, and Washington/Wall Street goes to war. If we have any hope of obtaining basic needs for our own people we must stand against the genocide and stay the hands of our own war-makers in Washington. Third, the heat waves, droughts, hurricanes, rising oceans, and other elements of climate change should have taught us that human beings everywhere need to cooperate to protect the planet, our only home. War threatens our planet. We all need to curtail the powers of leaders who favor war. In the midst of a very dangerous presidential election campaign, the people everywhere can call attention to the holy grail of the bipartisan one trillion dollar “defense” budget. In every way possible, the League extends its hand to all people and organizations moving for an end to arming Israel. All the fine words of working toward a cease-fire have been only that – pretty words. As our ruling class continues to undermine any possibility of a ceasefire, this is the time for people everywhere to recognize the stakes and fight together to end arms shipments to Israel. That alone would quickly end the genocides. This will take actions in the streets as well as actions in organizations and legislatures. The Biden-Harris administration has it within its power to end this. Instead, it threatens to escalate a regional war by blowing up Iran’s missile capability. Stop all arms for Israel! Turn the military budget into funding for the needs of the people everywhere.