As Ukraine fights for it existence versus fascist, kleptocratic Russia, there are lessons we can learn from them in our own struggle against fascism in the United States.
- People respond to fighting for justice — Volodymyr Zelensky has become a Ukrainian and even world wide hero and icon for his bravery and willingness to fight against fascists. People like a fighter and want to see that their leaders have fight in them. But it’s not just any fight, it’s fighting for a righteous cause that truly energizes. In 2018 we saw a blue wave in America as politicians championed progressive causes. In 2021 President Biden saw his best polling as he fought hard for and succeeded with a progressive agenda. We need to see continued fight in our leaders fighting for progressive causes.
- Heroes take personal risks — President Zelensky has put his country and democratic ideals first, and his personal well being second, and people have responded to his leadership. Democrats, while not facing actual assassination, do need to be willing to be shown risking their political futures for the right cause. Oddly enough, the biggest example in American politics at the moment is Liz Cheney.
- It’s about more than the leaders — From sunflower babushka, to engineers sacrificing their lives, to “Russian ship, go f*** yourself” and many more, we see Ukrainians have more than just their President inspiring people. It’s not just about congress this November. It’s about down ballot races, volunteers, meme-makers and creative acts of resistance against fascism. We need to see our candidates, but lets also celebrate the many others working hard for justice.
- Get ahead of the propaganda — Both President Biden and President Zelensky have shown a willingness to get ahead of expected Russian propaganda. President Biden aggressively shared intelligence warning of Russian attacks to negate potential false flag justifications and did so successfully. President Zelensky has been constantly and actively messaging his people to proactively communicate with them and also quickly responding to false stories of him surrendering. Democrats need to get out ahead of both GOP false stories and Corporate Media shading stories towards the GOP. President Biden himself needs to call out the consistent Corporate Media bias towards the GOP. He needs to do so in enough detail so that people recognize it when they see it. Democrats on talk shows and in interviews need to get far more aggressive pointing out bad premises that corporate reporters often shade their stories with. AOC is great at this.
- Communicate as directly to the people as you can — President Zelensky has been essentially a one man video crew taking selfie videos with his cell phone and doing so often. It makes him both approachable and familiar to his country as they go through a collective trial. It also means he gets to shape his story directly. Democrats need to up their communication game through Twitter, Instagram, etc. and communicate directly with people. Limit corporate media’s ability to shape a story to their narrative. Take them as much out of the equation as possible. Again, AOC is a great example.
- Pick a side — We’re up against fascism. For the Ukrainians the choice has almost been made for them, but not entirely. President Zelensky could have chosen to accept the ride. He could have hedged his bets, fled Kyiv and talked himself into believing it was the best course of action. Instead he stood literally next to his people. Democrats can’t be both friends to corporate interests and regular people. Corporations are essentially a fascist structure where decisions are made by a small group of wealthy individuals and their dictates must be followed or you will be fired. Greed is the only appropriate motive inside a corporation (in fact coded into law as fiduciary responsibility). Democrats must choose who they stand with and make it clear who stands there with them. So yes, they need to make it clear Sinema and Manchin are part of the problem. They need to decline corporate money and do what they can to reduce corporate power. They need to make it clear corporations are enemies of freedom, democracy, and even healthy business markets.
- Don’t believe the prognosticators — Had the Ukrainians followed conventional wisdom they would have given up without a fight. Instead they believed in their own strength and choose to fight the good fight. Some (too many) are paying with their lives for it. But their sacrifice is keeping their country free and building a better world for Ukraine and the rest of the world. The Russian bear turned out to be a starved dog. Still capable of biting and being vicious, but not strong enough to take down a prepared opponent. I can’t hear mention of this November’s election without the corporate media endlessly repeating the surety that Democrats will struggle in November. You even hear it on the DailyKos just as many people here repeated that a Russian win was inevitable. A Democratic victory in November is perfectly in the realm of the possible. We need to fight for it. It won’t necessarily be easy. But picking up two Senate seats and keeping the House should not be talked about as a vain hope, but as a task we will work hard to accomplish and we will succeed at.
- Don’t overestimate your enemy — Part of Russia’s myth was too many people believing Putin was somehow smarter than others and somehow infallible. Okay, no one is saying Greene or Cruz are geniuses. But it is related to not believing the prognosticators. We can overcome redistricting, voter suppression, and historic mid-term trends. We’re not guaranteed to, but neither are we guaranteed to fail either.
- Social Media Companies are capable of better — Sanctions recently gave Twitter and other social media sites a brief respite from the troll farms. But it wasn’t too long before they started back up. But that brief period has shown what those sites can be like if they simply have the will to stop the troll farms. Social Media needs to be pressured either with legislation or the threat of it to stop the trolls. This doesn’t have to be at the national level. California, New York, and a few other states could enact legislation forcing the companies to deal with trolls. I don’t personally know what that might look like, and it probably isn’t easy, but we need to deal with the problem.
- Make it clear who the enemy of progress is — In Ukraine, it’s clear that Putin and his oligarchs are the problem and it helps people focus. Democrats need to do a better job of both showing that the GOP stands with Putin, and that corporations are not our friends. They need to be far more aggressive investigating corruption. Is ANYONE investigating Mitch McConnell and his wife’s double dealings and Russian connections? We need to plaster the airwaves with pictures of GOP members with Putin, praising Putin, and having Russian connections. Tie the GOP as tightly as we can to the now obvious fascism of Putin (well, it was obvious to many of us a long time ago).
Please suggest your own.