Source: The Guardian

With all the talk of ‘totalitarianism’ in the Trump era, let’s not forget what came before

People talk a lot about “totalitarianism” in the Trump era. I’ve never really loved the category: it seems to paper over some pretty deep differences between the entities one might call totalitarian. But if there was a “totalitarian” moment in my lifetime, it is unquestionably the period between 9/11 and the Iraq war.

It’s not simply that war criminals enlisted the aid of the press and every other ideological apparatus in our country to launch a massively destructive, destabilizing, and completely unwarranted war of aggression (the principal crime against humanity), although they did. read more

Source: Truthout

Activism for immigrant rights may be about to get much more militant.

Some 1.1 million undocumented people — beneficiaries of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) — are slated to lose their protection against deportation over the next two years, along with the possibility of obtaining work permits or aid for higher education. The result will of course be devastating for them and for their relatives, friends and communities, but there will also be repercussions for the society as a whole, especially in areas with large immigrant populations. Meanwhile, the country’s other 10 million or so undocumented people continue to live in fear, with Trump administration policies increasing the pressure. “[Y]ou should be uncomfortable,” Tom Homan, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), warned them last spring. “You should look over your shoulder.” read more

Source: Institute for New Economic Thinking

We recently interviewed Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Laureate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona. He shares his thoughts with the Institute for New Economic Thinking on foreign policy, dissent in the Internet age, public education, corporate predation, who’s really messing with American elections, climate change, and more.

Lynn Parramore: You’ve been looking at politics and international relations for quite a long time. Over the decades, what are the continuities in these areas that stand out in your view? read more