Refuse Fascism

We want to hear from listeners! What are some of your most urgent questions keeping you up at night as 2024 begins? Let us know via this survey: ⁠https://bit.ly/rf-pod-survey On this episode, we share Jessica Valenti’s testimony before Senate Democrats on the state of abortion rights ahead of the Roe v. Wade anniversary. Sam provides commentary highlighting the Supreme Court's efforts to expan...

Sam talks with Faisal Al-Juburi from RAICES Texas to get an update on what has changed (and what hasn't) for our siblings seeking refuge as of January 2024 at the deadly US border. Follow their work and get involved at https://www.raicestexas.org/ . We want to hear from listeners! What are some of your most urgent questions keeping you up at night as 2024 begins? Let us know via this survey: h...

Paul Street, member of the  RefuseFascism.org  Editorial Board shares reflections on January 6, three years later. Read his reflections: On January 6 Three Years Later: T he Trump Republi-Fascist Menace is Alive and Well .  Subscribe to the Paul Street Report  to read and hear more from Paul.   Then, Sam talks with Ian Millhiser, senior correspondent at Vox, about  just some of the Trump trials, s...

As we close out 2023 and head into 2024 many of us are feeling a sense of deja vu - but with higher stakes. Take a trip through the events of 2023 with an eye to the future with some guests from this past year. THANK YOU to all the patrons and supporters who help make this show possible in 2023. Find out more about Refuse Fascism and get involved at RefuseFascism.org. We're still on Twitter (⁠...

As we close out the year and look towards 2024, members of the RefuseFascism.org Editorial Board answer questions submitted by supporters of the pod. You can become one of those supporters at patreon.com/refusefascism . Follow Coco Das at @Coco_Das , Paul Street at paulstreet.substack.com and Sam at @SamBGoldman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Twitter or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@samgoldmanrf⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on TikTok. Ment...

Sam talks with scholar Matthew D. Taylor about House Speaker Mike Johnson and the significance and danger exemplified in Johnson's ascent to power. Taylor documents Johnson's links to leading voices in the Christian Charismatic movement (which were early adopters of the Trump cult, and unlike mainstream Evangelical leaders, have never split in their support for Trump). This movement also p...

Sam talks with Dr. Susan Neiman, Director of the Einstein Forum in Germany about the US-backed war Israel is waging against Gaza. Her latest book is  Left Is Not Woke . Her first work of fiction, Nine Stories: A Berlin Novel , will be published in 2024. She has written two recent thought provoking essays for the The New York Review of Books : Historical Reckoning Gone Haywire Germans’ efforts to c...

Sam talks with Wendy Via, Co-Founder and President at The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, about their analysis of the publicly announced plan for "day one" of the next presidential administration (presumably headed by leading Republifascist candidate Donald Trump). Their report The Far-Right Playbook for American Authoritarianism: Project 2023 states in part, "Their aims...

Sam talks with Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read Program Director at PEN America. Their new report America's Censored Classrooms 2023 states, "Over the past three years, state legislators have launched an onslaught of educational gag orders—state legislative and policy efforts to restrict teaching about topics such as race, gender, American history, and LGBTQ+ identities in educational settin...

Sam talks with writer Sarah Posner about Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House, third in line to the presidency and Christian Nationalist who spent around a decade as a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom (sic), the organization behind the recent wave of state level anti-abortion legislation, the 303 Creative SCOTUS case, and on the wrong side of many other battles. Read Sarah's book U...

Sam talks with Mark Tinkleman, co-producer of the podcast, about the genocide in Gaza and the dangerous unity between imperialist “democracy” and fascism, plus what’s happening in the House of Representatives and more. Views expressed in this episode are the opinions of Sam and Mark themselves. Follow Mark on Instagram at @marknoodler . Recommended Signs of Hope If Not Now American Jews organizing...

Sam talks with Dahlia Lithwick about how the SCOTUS and this term fit into the growing fascist threat and the stakes of the cases they will potentially be hearing and deciding this year. Dahlia Lithwick writes about the courts and the law for  Slate and hosts the podcast  Amicus.  She is the author of  Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America . Mentioned in this episode: A Monumental SCOTUS...

Sam talks with writer and historian Paul Street (also on the RefuseFascism.org Editorial Board) about recent events including the fascist attempts to shut down the government, the ouster of Kevin McCarthy from the Speaker of the House, and the increasingly violent threats and promises of vengeance from current frontline candidate for president and as-yet unconvicted coup plotter Donald Trump. Foll...

Sam talks with Roxy Szal, Austin-based feminist writer and Digital Editor of Ms. Magazine about the state of emergency for abortion access in many parts of the U.S. and much more. For more from Roxy and Ms Magazine visit https://msmagazine.com/  and listen to the  On The Issues podcast hosted by Michelle Godwin here . Check out the  Fifty Years of Ms. book here . Plus commentary from Coco Das ( @C...

Sam talks with Gavriel D. Rosenfeld and Janet Ward, the two editors of a new book titled Fascism in America . Gavriel D. Rosenfeld is President of the Center for Jewish History and Professor of History at Fairfield University. He is the author or editor of eight books on the Nazi era, including The Fourth Reich: The Specter of Nazism since World War II (2019) and Hi Hitler! How the Nazi Past Is Be...

Sam talks with Keyanna Michelle Jones, an organizer with Community Movement Builders. They discuss the ominous and illegitimate RICO indictments "Cop City" opponents face and the fascist assault on the right to protest there. Follow her at @kmichelle_atl and learn more about Community Movement Builders here: https://communitymovementbuilders.org. Note this episode was recorded on Septemb...

Sam talks with Will Carless, national correspondent for USA Today on extremism, about his recent investigation: The military ordered big steps to stop extremism. Two years later, it shows no results . Follow him on Twitter @WillCarless and read his work at USA Today. Mentioned in the episode: Georgia Attorney General brings RICO indictments against 61 activists RICO indictments for 61 people alleg...

Sam talks with Dr. Marvin Dunn, historian and activist with The Miami Center for Racial Justice about their educational tours of Florida covering sites of lynchings and other oppression (prime example: Rosewood) — the knowledge of which is being suppressed by the Desantis fascist offensive against public education. Learn more, get involved and support Teach the Truth projects at https://miamicente...

Sam talks with Mike Rothschild, author of the forthcoming book Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories (preorder now!). From Terry Matalas: "Like Mike Rothschild’s incredible deconstruction of QAnon in The Storm Is Upon Us, Jewish Space Lasers takes a thoroughly engrossing deep dive into the absurd conspiracy theories surrounding Judaism’s ‘royal family.’ It...

Sam talks with attorney and writer Madiba Dennie about the SCOTUS ruling from this June which eliminated race conscious education admissions. Follow her work at madibadennie.com and @AudreLawdAMercy . Plus more commentary on the brewing crisis escalated by the most recent indictments of Trump.  Refuse Fascism is more than a podcast! You can get involved at RefuseFascism.org. We're still on Twi...

Sam talks with Faisal Al-Juburi from RAICES Texas about the continuing brutal mistreatment of immigrants and asylum seekers in Texas, which has now placed razor wire barriers in the Rio Grande. RAICES first came to national attention during the family separation crisis under the Trump regime but has been providing services and advocacy for immigrants for decades. Follow and support their work at ...

Sam talks with Dale Anderson, an organizer with Choose Democracy Now about what’s happening at the ground level in Sarasota, Florida as a case study of the spreading fascism in the US. Find out more about their work at choosedemocracynow.org . Plus commentary from C. Clark Kissinger excerpted from the recent Q&A discussion with hosts of the show and Refuse Fascism patrons. Mentioned in this ep...

Sam talks to women in Iowa, where a new abortion ban was just signed into law, making essentially all abortion services unobtainable. Lyz Lenz ia a journalist based in Iowa and author of several books including Belabored: A Vindication of the Rights of Pregnant Women. Find her on Twitter https://twitter.com/lyzl or her website https://lyzlenz.com/.  Allison Simpson founded We Won’t Go Back - Dubuq...

Sam talks with David Gilbert, Senior Reporter with Vice.com about his recent coverage of the "Moms for Liberty" movement which just held their National Summit in Philly. Read his recent piece The GOP Is Lining Up to Pay Homage to America's Newest Extremist Group, Moms for Liberty and follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/daithaigilbert and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/davi...

Sam talks with Paul Street about the recent rulings from the Supreme Court including overturning affirmative action, legalizing discrimination against LGBTQ (and possibly other?) people, Moore v Harper (the "independent state legislature theory" case) and more. Follow Paul on Substack: https://substack.com/@paulstreet Also listen to episode 160: SCOTUS, The Shadow Docket, & The Fasci...