It’s Queen Elizabeth’s fault. I spent Monday from midnight till dawn watching her sendoff soirée, held in the grandest tradition of Janis Joplin who likewise left a chunk of money in her will to throw a helluva party. (Her majesty spent a bit more.)
I had to take a bit of time off from my Britannia all-nighter to roll out the recycling for my Teamsters brothers. I thus took advantage of PBS highlights Monday evening in case I had missed anything important.
Big mistake. The queen’s gambit was followed by what documentary impresario Ken Burns’ describes as his magnum opus, “The U.S. and the Holocaust.”
I had avoided watching that three-parter. Current reality is so dark I don’t require additional regression.
Alas and alack, Burns proved correct. This damned thing is probably his greatest work. Monday thus fittingly became a dark and stormy night, complete with thunder and hailstones in my ‘hood.
From his post-show interview with Stephen Colbert, Burns noted that his series will conclude with parallels to present day America. The opening installment will chill you to the bone, déjà vu all over again.
Hitler comparisons have been hurled so often that they are borderline meaningless. Czar Donaldov has accused his myriad critics of being closet Nazis. (Somebody break out the scorched pots and kettles.)
Trump’s idol, Czar Putin, likewise fell back on the trite and true, using fear of Nazis to justify his holocaust against Ukraine.
Burns’ trilogy looks at how an isolationist America chose to ignore Hitler’s rise to power, as did so many others. He couldn’t succeed, right? (Déjà vu 2016, anyone?)
I don’t know if Burns used it, but no less than aviator Charles Lindbergh, a flaming anti-semitic racist, led U.S. isolationism in the mid-1930’s as fascism ran wild worldwide, kinda like now. Lucky Lindy got very quiet after Pearl Harbor.
Donald Trump’s success parallels Hitler’s in so many ways. Trump has used the Nazi template by instinct, not design. It’s just that the dictator playbook works the same everywhere. Get into power via election, then make sure you stay for life by any means necessary. Like so many dictatorships today.
Hitler, Trump and their soul brothers share one necessary scapegoat: The Other, especially immigrants. Like my family.
The lazy ignorance of so many of my fellow citizens dismays but must not dissuade. The latest dingbat fad is that we are not a democracy but a republic so there’s no democracy for Trump to subvert. Why? Because the MAGA moonhowlers have said so.
CIVICS 101. “Republic” is shorthand for representative democracy. True democracy is a town hall meeting where all citizens show up, have their say and vote on every issue, right down to ordering paper clips. Just right for 16th Century colonies.
Instead, we democratically elect representatives to act for us. Representative democracy, a republic.
President Franklin Roosevelt saw the danger but there was no support to help European Jews in the midst of the Great Depression given mistrust in government sown by World War One. President Woodrow Wilson won re-election in 1916 by promising to keep us out of European combat. Then promptly sent troops the next year.
I hope Mr. Burns includes the story of the ocean liner filled with Jewish refugees from Hitler which was refused entry to the U.S. It had no choice but to return to face German ovens.
I remember a long-ago interview with one of the brave few Americans who volunteered to fight against Francisco Franco’s revolution in Spain, arguably the laboratory for Hitler’s blitzkriegs.
“America could have stopped fascism cold,” he lamented. “But we wouldn’t.”
Ignore Mr. Burns’ video red flag at your peril and that of your children. And your country.
Déjà vu all over again.
TWOFER WEDNESDAY. At 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, Culinary Union 226 kicks off a canvas launch from its Reno offices at 5450 Equity Ave. North and south, over 250 of the union’s members have taken leave from their jobs to campaign for Democratic candidates and officeholders. The very diverse union will understandably contact a wide array of minority households. Local 226 is the only major organization of any stripe with the guts to do anything about Nevada’s skyrocketing rents and exploitation by corporate landlords.
Info: Bethany Khan bkahn@culinaryunion226.org (612) 598-0174. Livestream available at Facebook.com/Culinary226/
TRACK 2: Activists from an array of national railroad unions have called for informational pickets at rail terminals nationwide on Wednesday. The goal is keeping the heat on the nation’s railroads notwithstanding a tentative agreement avoiding a national strike announced last week by President Biden.
It got little media attention, but one Machinists Union local had actually voted down the deal 2-to-1 the day before the president’s announcement.
“While all of this is happening, the rank and file is not standing idly by, but is mobilizing,” stated Reno-based train driver Ron Kaminkow of Railroad Workers United.
Apparently, there are more than a few folks not too happy about tentative contracts with the various rail behemoths. Union workers recently had to fight fang and claw to stop the corporations from foolhardy cutbacks. Would you board a jetliner knowing there’s no co-pilot? They have hinted at more demonstrations “channeling this mass discontent.”
Mr. President, I suggest calling your labor secretary. Better yet, just contact Mr. Kaminkow ronkamikow@yahoo.com (608) 358-5771. RailroadWorkersUnited.org/ Tell him you heard it on the Barbwire.
HELP MIKE GUERRA. Thanks to all who’ve donated to help the ailing RTCRide bus operator. Contribute at gofund.me/c1fed539/ or send checks or money orders payable to Mike’s mother, Olivia Baker, addressed to her attention at Teamsters Local 533, 1190 Selmi Drive No. 100, Reno 89512.
Stay safe and pray for Ukraine and 53 other currently war-torn lands.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 53-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us
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