Weissman writes: "No surprise, I back the protesters and feel sad that distance and a gammy lung keep me from joining in. Trump may - or may not - have won an Electoral College majority fair and square. But belief in democracy does not require us to endorse the decision of our fellow citizens or the scapegoating of immigrants and Muslims. We need instead to find nonviolent ways to resist Trump and the worldwide ultra-right he encourages."
Anti-Trump protesters in front of the Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C. (photo: Andrew Stefan/RSN)
A Call to the World: Boycott Trump's America
19 November 16
�Give Trump a chance,� urge the would-be peacemakers. �Bring the country together.�
ot my president,� say tens of thousands protesting in the streets across the country. �No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!�
No surprise, I back the protesters and feel sad that distance and a gammy lung keep me from joining in. Trump may � or may not � have won an Electoral College majority fair and square. But belief in democracy does not require us to endorse the decision of our fellow citizens or the scapegoating of immigrants and Muslims. We need instead to find nonviolent ways to resist Trump and the worldwide ultra-right he encourages.
Hundreds of ways to resist will emerge in the weeks and months ahead. One extremely creative idea comes from my Ramparts colleague and sometimes co-writer Frank Browning, author most recently of �The Fate of Gender.� Like so many of us, Frank is horrified. Why did so many Americans, whether personally racist or not, vote for someone who expressed so much bigotry, misogyny, and hate? And what can we do to force a clampdown on the post-election surge in hate crimes?
A native of Kentucky now living in France, Frank has asked me and several others to reach out to those beyond Trump�s national borders and ask them a simple question: Will you join us in fighting Trump�s politics of hatred by refusing to visit the United States? We call our campaign �Boycott Trump�s America.�
The initial target will be the American travel and tourist industry, in which Trump and his family play a leading role. International visitors to the US spent $216.9 billion in 2015, creating a $61 billion trade surplus. As with the historic boycott of apartheid in South Africa, this will unfortunately hurt workers, many of whom are immigrants. But similar to the tourist and business boycott of North Carolina following its notorious bathroom law, a sharp, well-publicized kick in the pants has and can put real pressure on the hatemongers behind Trump as well as on Trump himself. It also could lead to an even more extensive boycott of American goods and services.
How do we spread the word? Mostly though emails, social media, expat groups and leading publications around the world, and � soon � a website. We are not creating an organization. We are not asking for money. We are not breaking any laws, though Trump and the Republican-dominated Congress could soon change that.
Why should Europeans and others want to join us? Largely in their own interest. Trump and his newly appointed chief strategist and senior counselor ? Steve Bannon ? have been working closely with Britain�s anti-immigrant Brexiteers, especially Nigel Farage. A white nationalist and former boss of the hate-filled Breitbart News, Bannon has just sought an alliance with the �Le Pen women� and their neo-fascist Front National, while Trump�s victory has given an enormous boost to like-minded nasties across Europe. Boycotting Trump�s America will help Europeans and others fight against their own hate-filled ultra-nationalists.
What can you do? Wherever you live, click on our Facebook page and friend us to follow the boycott and the worldwide fight against the growing ultra-right. If you live outside the US, please add your name to our public declaration. Let the world know how you feel. Unless you need to care for a loved one, attend a funeral, join an anti-racist protest, or something else absolutely necessary, tell everyone that you will not visit Donald Trump�s America.
If you have suggestions or want to help in some specific way, please email us at boycott@orange.fr.
A veteran of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement and the New Left monthly Ramparts, Steve Weissman lived for many years in London, working as a magazine writer and television producer. He now lives and works in France, where he is researching a new book, "Big Money and the Corporate State: How Global Banks, Corporations, and Speculators Rule and How to Nonviolently Break Their Hold."
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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and jtatu thumbs down for agreeing??
Good point-take a look at most any candid photo of Rand disciple Alan Greenspan and you'll see the very similar expressions of a miserable human.
In this piece he is lightening up, but he is also stimulating an actual conversation between writer and reader. Call it a Fan Club, or better yet a "community", it is all part of constructing a public intellectual persona. And that edifice is a really important one (if a bit awry and gaudy in the HST tradition) in the progressive intellectual cityscape.
Can I get honourable mention for this post?
Sorry I found out about this too late to participate.
How could this NOT be on the list?
Yeh, the earth is falling apart...but now and then we need to get off the beaten path and see the World as it really is...and not as it appears to be...or we wish it to be.
for most appalling fashion sense and hair style...iconic indeed! God help us all!
Ayn Rand? Her ghost haunts American politics and she continues to move the big money that supports the Tea Party.
Big irony: Rand was the most popular and influential atheist in American history.... When atheism appears on the political left, it's "Godless Communism," according to Fox News.... When atheism develops on the political right, it's "Objectivity." Huh?
David Brooks? His book "Bobos in Paradise" describes the aging yuppies who have made Brooks "the most popular conservative among liberals." Brooks has built his career with bobo money and support. Bit of irony: Brooks has very little support among the conservatives who voted for Romney. Without the bobos, Brooks would vanish from your television screen.
I remember that as true when I went to college (early 1960's.)
Everyone had read her, in good faith, and everyone branded her as dangerous a charlatan as Aleister Crowley - except for the Philosophy departments, which simply asked the valid question, "why in God's name would anyone take a "hack"(-English /Lit. Dept's assessment) science fiction writer for a philosopher, even a bad one?"
Ah, RHytonen--ya made ma day!
Philosophy departments in Europe laughed at Hitler and his associates during the 1920s. After 1932, they no longer laughed.... With Ayn Rand, the question is not, "Is she acceptable in academic circles? Is she an original thinker?" Instead, the question that matters is, "Is her work influential in American culture and politics?"
Ayn Rand is still a powerful force in a lot of places. Too many places.
And calling Oprah(tm) pretentious is a redundancy.
I can't help but be reminded of the punch line of an old joke: "pretentious... .moi?"
But he's still the most pretentious asshole I've seen in a while, no matter which word you hear.
Anonymous donors exist.
I fondly remember Ernie Kovacs, Studio One and Omnibus from my teen years; Twilight Zone, the Young People's Concerts and Bullwinkle in my 20s; later the Watergate hearings, The Prisoner, the Smothers Brothers, I Claudius, Deep Space Nine, and a few others worth watching. Since then I've sampled a few programs now and then, like Downton Abbey which I quickly shut off. Surely it's one of the Top 10 pretentious soap operas of all time. I really am skeptical of old age nostalgia, and am sure there never was a "golden age" of TV. Maybe I was an idiot ever to watch it at all, but it seemed to me there used to be creative stuff on the Box (not interviews, not infotainment, not "reality" shows) which made some of it worthwhile.