Friday, April 04, 2025

Showing Up on April 5.

 



This Saturday is already going to be BIG, but we’re counting on everyone to grab some poster boards, some friends, and a few snacks so they can turn out to make it HISTORICALLY HUGE. The moment could not be bigger or more timely:

1️⃣ The crackdown on peaceful protest is coming. We all know Trump, Musk, and their MAGA enablers will come after peaceful protesters if they can carry on unopposed much longer. And when that crackdown comes, it needs to be alien, inexcusable, indefensible, and untenable.

We’re showing up on April 5 because, if we don’t, it will be so much harder to do so on May 5, June 5, or beyond. Tomorrow is when we set the tone that peaceful protests against this administration are widespread, unstoppable, and only getting bigger.

2️⃣ Our leaders and institutions won’t fight unless we demand it. If anyone expected the powers that be to save us from the fascistic Musk-Trump power grab, they’ve been proven very wrong, very quickly.

Too many institutions -- from law firms to academia to corporations and the media -- have chosen to meekly bow down to Trump and Musk’s demands. Too many congressional Democrats have chosen complicity over bold resistance.

Cory Booker made clear during his historic marathon speech on the Senate floor that he was responding to pressure from his constituents to do more.

The message we send Saturday is aimed at those who share our values as much as it is at Trump and Musk. Together, we’re demanding they do more and fight harder -- knowing that hundreds of thousands of their constituents have their backs if they do.

3️⃣ We have Elon Musk on the ropes. His approval rating is in the toilet. His bid to buy Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race failed spectacularly. And now Donald Trump’s privately admitting it may be time to show DOGE the door.

By peacefully protesting the Musk-Trump Coup and educating voters about its danger to their pocketbooks and our democracy, Indivisibles and our allies have turned Elon Musk into a political pariah everywhere outside the Oval Office -- and now it’s time to turn up the heat even further.


Thursday, April 03, 2025

All Out for April 5 Demonstrations : Hands Off Protest

 Here are some ways you can take action.

All times Pacific

Excellent guide. 

How to protest safely in Trump’s America

A friend sent me this. She's  worried about taking her daughter on Sat.

https://open.substack.com/pub/loricorbetmann/p/how-to-protest-safely-in-trumps-america?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Tuesday, April 01, 2025

A Blueprint for Resisting Trump Education Cuts? Chicago Teachers Reach "...

Trump’s and MAGA’s Own Identity Politics: White, Preferably Racist

Trump’s and MAGA’s Own Identity Politics: White, Preferably Racist: Today on TAP: The ‘race-centered’ Smithsonian exhibits are bad, but there’s nothing race-centered in restoring Confederate statuary.

Trump Rule

 Sunday’s Bulwark essay by JVL – Jonathan V. Last: 

“America is ruled by a regime which is attempting to create a dictatorship. Part of its strategy is to maintain strategic ambiguity about the state of our democracy. They want to send strong signals to various institutions that democracy no longer exists and that the rule of law is now rule by law. The point of these signals is to demand submission to their autocratic rule and consolidate non-electoral power.

At the same time, this regime wants to maintain the plausibility that it might be overthrown via normal democratic processes. The point of this second signal is to keep the institutions (and people) which have not yet been subdued docile and deactivated. The strategic ambiguity about whether or not we live in an autocracy is designed to preserve maximum maneuverability for the regime until such time as they have full control and no longer need to maneuver.”

 

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Faculty Unions Sue Trump Administration to Protect Free Speech

NEW YORK– The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the AFT today sued the Trump administration on behalf of their members for unlawfully cutting off $400 million in federal funding for crucial public health research to force Columbia University to surrender its academic independence. While the Trump administration has been slashing funding since its first days in office, this move represents a stunning new tactic: using cuts as a cudgel to coerce a private institution to adopt restrictive speech codes and allow government control over teaching and learning.

The plaintiffs, who represent members of Columbia University faculty in both the humanities and sciences, allege that this coercive tactic not only undermines academic independence, but stops vital scientific research that contributes to the health and prosperity of all Americans. The terminated grants supported research on urgent issues, including Alzheimer’s disease prevention, fetal health in pregnant women, and cancer research.

The Trump administration’s unprecedented demands, and threats of similar actions against 60 universities, have created instability and a deep chilling effect on college campuses across the country.  Although the administration claims to be acting to combat antisemitism under its authority to prevent discrimination, it has completely disregarded the requirements of Title VI, the statute that provides it with that authority–requirements that exist to prevent the government from exercising too much unfettered control over funding recipients. According to the complaint, the cancellation of federal funds also violates the First Amendment, the separation of powers, and other constitutional provisions.

“The Trump administration’s threats and coercion at Columbia are part of a clear authoritarian playbook meant to crush academic freedom and critical research in American higher education. Faculty, students, and the American public will not stand for it. The repercussions extend far beyond the walls of the academy. Our constitutional rights, and the opportunity for our children and grandchildren to live in a democracy are on the line,” said Todd Wolfson, president of the AAUP.

“President Trump has taken a hatchet to American ingenuity, imagination and invention at Columbia to attack academic freedom and force compliance with his political views,” saidAFT President Randi Weingarten. “Let’s be clear: the administration should tackle legitimate issues of discrimination. But this modern-day McCarthyism is not just an illegal attack on our nation’s deeply held free speech and due process rights, it creates a chilling effect that hinders the pursuit of knowledge—the core purpose of our colleges and universities. Today, we reject this bullying and resolve to challenge the administration’s edicts until they are rescinded.”

“We’re seeing university leadership across the country failing to take any action to counter the Trump administration’s unlawful assault on academic freedom,” said Reinhold Martin, president of Columbia-AAUP and professor of architecture. “As faculty, we don’t have the luxury of inaction. The integrity of civic discourse and the freedoms that form the basis of a democratic society are under attack. We have to stand up.”

The complaint alleges that the Trump administration’s broad punitive tactics are indicative of an attempt to consolidate power over higher education broadly. According to the complaint, the administration is simultaneously threatening other universities with similar punishment in order to chill dissent on specific topics and speech with which the administration disagrees. Trump administration officials have spoken publicly about their plans to “bankrupt these universities” if they don’t “play ball.”

Universities have historically been engines of innovation in critical fields like technology, national security, and medical treatments. Cuts to that research will ultimately harm the health, prosperity and security of all Americans.

“Columbia is the testing ground for the Trump administration’s tactic to force universities to yield to its control,” said Orion Danjuma, counsel at Protect Democracy. “We are bringing this lawsuit to protect higher education from unlawful government censorship and political repression.”

The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York and names as defendants the government agencies that cut Columbia’s funding on March 7 and signed the March 13 letter to Columbia laying out the government's demands required to restore the funding, including the Department of Justice, Department of Education, Health and Human Services and General Services Administration. The plaintiffs are represented by Protect Democracy and Altshuler Berzon LLP.

The full complaint can be read here.

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About the American Association of University Professors


 

 
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