By Coco Das

From Refuse Fascism | Original Article

The Trump/Pence regime is readying warships with a ton of firepower directed at Iran, a dangerous escalation of aggression based on the same rhetoric used to justify the criminal invasion of Iraq, using flimsy evidence of a “new and credible threat” of a planned attack on “American interests.”

Along with allies in Israel and Saudi Arabia, this regime has been laying the groundwork for a war with Iran since Trump’s first overseas visit in 2017. There, they introduced a “strategic vision” for the Middle East that included isolating Iran as a common enemy. In the past month, this vision has come closer to reality.

Imagine being one of the 82 million people in Iran right now. You are staring into the barrel of the most powerful military in the world. You are facing the escalating possibility that your country will be bombed. You wonder if your country will become the next Iraq, plunged into chaos after an American invasion. You take seriously the threats of a powerful lunatic who pulls out of an international nuclear treaty and won’t take his own use of nuclear weapons “off the table.” You plan ahead for economic collapse if the Trump regime’s efforts to stop Iran’s oil exports succeed. You hope your loved ones will survive, will not starve like the people of Yemen. Then you brace yourself as nuclear-capable B-52 bombers are pointed in your direction.

We should be in the streets screaming at the top of our lungs to stop this, refusing to allow this gangster regime to unleash fire and fury on the world! But instead, the silence has been deafening. Whatever is stopping you from acting in a way that is commensurate with the danger and the horror that is about to be unleashed on millions of people, get over it.

The question is sharply  posed to everyone who knows right from wrong: at what point do you say “enough!”?

At what point do you face the reality that this regime is on the offensive and will not allow itself to be stopped or deterred by what you have been taught are the “normal channels”? At what point do you relocate your sense of justice and humanity and say that just because it isn’t happening to you—yet—doesn’t mean it should not be resisted with actual action?

At what point do you face the reality, for which the past three years and every passing week provide mountains of evidence, that the Democratic Party cares more about preserving this system than it does about preventing and getting rid of fascism and everything that goes with that fascism? At what point do you come to grips with the fact that the Democratic Party will line up in lockstep—and right now is doing everything it can to line you up—for whatever wars this regime is either planning or will “stumble into”?

The Democratic Party is not going to stop these threats against Iran. They are busy reaching across the aisle and campaigning for 2020. We should count on them to oppose a war with Iran as effectively as they opposed the invasion of Iraq and the years of horrors that followed. That is to say, not at all.

The Iranian graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi made a profound statement years ago. “The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same.”

This is even truer now. Our people are the people of the world. Our interests are the interests of humanity. What your government wants you to do for their interests, you must refuse to do.

Only WE can stop this, the millions of us who have a heart and conscience but who are being cajoled into normalizing a fascist nightmare. Now is the time to reset your commitment to maintaining your morality and your humanity. Sign the Refuse Fascism Call to Action, which clearly states the vision and strategy in which, “tens of thousands beginning in several cities and towns, with marches, candlelight vigils, rallies – students, religious communities, immigrants, everyone with a heart for humanity in the streets and not backing down – growing from thousands to hundreds of thousands and eventually millions. Our actions will reflect the values of respect for all of humanity and the world we want – in stark contrast to the hate and bigotry of the Trump/Pence fascist regime. The whole world will take heart.”

People all over the world are counting on us to stop this nightmare. Let’s get down to the work of building a movement that will drive out this regime and set whole new terms for society. This is possible, there is a role for everyone, but humanity needs you to step up now.