From RefuseFascism.org

I Waited to Vote Them Out

by Adam East

October 29, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Originally posted at RefuseFascism.org, October 24.

They came for the Muslims, and I waited to vote them out.

They came for the refugees and I waited to vote them out.

They came for the immigrants and I waited to vote them out.

They dropped the mother of all bombs and I waited to vote them out.

They came for the women and I waited to vote them out.

They came for my queer family and I waited to vote them out.

They burned the planet and I waited to vote them out.

The elections came and went.

When they came for me, the people who were left to watch said, “Don’t worry. In 2020, we’ll vote them out.”

*****

This is based on a well-known quote by Pastor Martin Niemöller that begins, “First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a communist.” Niemöller’s statement describes how the silence of the German people allowed the Nazis to advance on a road to genocide.

In 2018, we are faced with the question of what we are going to do now in the face of the advancing fascism of the Trump/Pence regime. Are we going to accept escalating attacks as this regime targets, scapegoats, and locks up one group after another using the language of genocide? Will we accept children in concentration camps, gleeful plunder of the environment, the evisceration of women’s reproductive rights, the erasure of LGBT people, threats of violence against political opponents, the return to openly violent racial terror? Will we wait through another election cycle, by which time it will be too late to stop the destruction that has been unleashed on a global scale, or will we struggle with all of our determination to stop it now?

For everyone who cares about humanity and the planet, there can only be one answer to this question. No election, fair or foul, legitimizes a fascist regime. Now is the time to draw a line in the sand and say, no more.

The day after the mid-terms, Refuse Fascism is launching the kind of struggle that is needed to drive out this regime. On November 7th and November 10th, join a different kind of protest movement, one that refuses to get swept up in another election cycle that buys our silence and capitulation to fascism, and instead demonstrates our singular demand and determination that in the name of humanity, the Trump/Pence regime must go!

Find out how to endorse, volunteer, donate, and find a protest near you.