You left out his firing of USAID officials and halting programs all around the world. People abandoned and left to die in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Please bring attention to this. He halted the program abruptly they cannot even distribute what is already paid for. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Yes, Jessica, so much I didn’t say, because too much disruptive, cruel, illegal, dangerous has occurred and is contained in the on and on and on and on. I can’t say it all - i wanted to list enough for the reader to realize the gravity of the situation and that this IS fascism and this IS a coup. Then I rely on you and everyone else to keep adding as you did re USAID and others to add what they must, what we must know. We have to keep exact and live tabs. And then knowing what we must — how do we proceed - and if, we cannot stop it as we must attempt — then we must protect what is of value and beauty for a future - and so we try to be and create sanctuaries, refuges, alternative governments, secret niches of possibilities, for there to be a future.
It is my first time commenting here, and I appreciate your thoughtful reply. I am Canadian, but since Trump got involved in politics ten years ago, I have been paying very close attention to American cultural and political life, reading both the New York Times and the Washington Post religiously, as well as reading news online and watching broadcast television. And I really do believe the sentiment out there that Americans are sleepwalking into a dictatorship. Well, you seem to be almost there. I mentioned USAID because that is what has upset me the most. Reading the coverage – broadcast television is barely touching it – it seems hundreds of thousands, if not millions, worldwide will die. Suffering will explode globally as lifesaving food and medicine is denied. Your country will become reviled. And seasoned professionals like you, as well as those with expertise in all industries, will be vilified or marginalized. Just as they are currently being in all aspects of government and the military. And the demoralization amongst those who have dedicated their lives to service….I don’t even want to think about it. To protect the things you speak of, in my mind, Americans first must be informed about the extent of what is happening. Too many have been tuning out and are only now starting to wake up. So I hope others will join me here in adding more they think people need to be aware of, because if people are aware the extent of it, and they take it seriously, they will jump into action.
Just a tiny side note re "Pu'uhonua" from Hawaiian cultural understanding: Pu'uhonua: Unlike the lands outside of it, Pu'uhonua were not governed by the Ali'i (high class in the sense of hereditary nobility, or rulers...) but by the Gods they revered. One translation of Pu'uhonua is "rising/elevated lands" and alludes to the function a Heiau (temple) of this type served. (In a "Pu'uhonua...a temple of some kind was created to pray and mark place... often made of stones...) In a modern sense, it is interesting to ponder what kind of a place of prayer we/one could build in places of sanctuary...maybe it is only in the individual heart.! but culturally, it denoted a literal location.) I think about this, as i lived for many years in the hawaiian isles. xxx, margo
This is so important to differentiate. And even more essential to ask how we create the Pu’uhonuas we need now. Really need now. How do we create sanctuary, really for each other, forall beings.
thank you Deena for your writing and thank you for your clarity in this piece. the heart is in the underground network and the flame continues in the spirit of vital connections.
A related idea is that of refugia, small environments where it is possible for plants and animals which are extinct elsewhere to survive. I learned about this through the study of the metasequoia, a tree that was thought to be extinct but was re-discovered after millennia in a small valley in China, then brought back to life and spread around temperate gardens everywhere. You have created such spaces within so many of us both individually and collectively. We must use them to center ourselves, to keep ourselves sane, and to create actions that will be effective and meaningful, not just assuage our consciences that we are "doing something." Thank you.
Dear Mary - Yes to refuge - and how essential to speak of it here and now for the plants and animals which are also so endangered by what is happening by and to the humans now. I love what you write — spaces within us — that we might be refuge or we might be sanctuary - that we might be safe houses for all the beings. You have brought it to another level of reality through the metasequoia flouishing again.
Many decades ago, i was working with the Los Angeles office of CISPES housed on a top floor in the Women’s Building near DTLA. A floor or two below our offices was the Women’s group itself. If my memory serves, you were teaching there. I remember joining one of your workshops. I just stumbled across you on Substack. Very pleased about that!!!
Yes indeed. Glad to connect with you again. And now we will have to be in strong solidarity with El Salvador again. The ‘deal’ that was just made with El Salvador needs to be on the list of Fascist or Nazi activities taken on by this current government.
Deena's is an essential voice in these challenging (to say the least!) times.
Additionally, please follow my former P.S. 175 Queens, N.Y. classmate, Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who is a leading expert on authoritarianism, a frequent guest on MSNBC, & also Pacific Palisades-connected here: https://lucid.substack.com/subscribe
Hi Deena, thank you for this beautiful letter about Sanctuary and Fascism and the I Ching question/answer. These are horrifying times, perhaps even more than we imagine if this administration gets its way past the next elections. I am offering here two links that helped me get a clearer understanding of the long-term vision the "tech bros" have in mind and the mindset of their favorite philosopher Curtis Yarvin. I hope these help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RpPTRcz1no
In Black Dawn, Bright Day, Sun Bear shared a vision of resilient, self-sustaining communities that would be within walking distance of each other. He foresaw a time when modern infrastructure might fail due to environmental, economic, or social upheavals, and people would need to return to a more localized way of living.
His idea was that these small communities, spread out but close enough for easy access, would allow people to share resources, support each other, and live in harmony with nature. Each community would focus on self-reliance, growing its own food, using sustainable energy, and maintaining a deep spiritual connection with the land. His vision aligns with Sanctuary, Indigenous ways of living and ecological principles, emphasizing cooperation, balance, and preparation for potential societal shifts. Seems we have arrived at the times Sun Bear saw in his vision.
"The cancellation of a University of North Carolina legal scholar’s scheduled talk at a U.S. attorney’s office on the complicity of German lawyers in the creation of the Nazi state. "
From the Blog of U of North Carolina Press - above - Recently, two of our Canadian authors, Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Derek Silva, both respected university scholars who have been critical of US policy on Palestine, faced restrictions on their ability to enter the country for a bookstore event for their new book, The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game. Nathan Kalman-Lamb was denied entry at the US border and informed that he would need to obtain a visa for future travel to the United States, and Derek Silva was able to attend the event, but has since had his NEXUS status revoked, affecting his ability to travel freely. These actions—occurring during heightened political tensions and renewed governmental restrictions on movement—raise concerns about the suppression of critical scholarship and the ability of international voices to engage in academic dialogue within the United States.
These developments echo other recent incidents of academic and historical inquiry being curtailed. This past week, Eric Muller, author of Lawyer, Jailer, Ally, Foe: Complicity and Conscience in America’s World War II Concentration Camps, faced an abrupt cancellation of a scheduled talk at a US Attorney’s Office, where he was set to speak on the role of lawyers in Nazi Germany. His lecture was reinstated after public outcry.
You left out his firing of USAID officials and halting programs all around the world. People abandoned and left to die in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Please bring attention to this. He halted the program abruptly they cannot even distribute what is already paid for. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Yes, Jessica, so much I didn’t say, because too much disruptive, cruel, illegal, dangerous has occurred and is contained in the on and on and on and on. I can’t say it all - i wanted to list enough for the reader to realize the gravity of the situation and that this IS fascism and this IS a coup. Then I rely on you and everyone else to keep adding as you did re USAID and others to add what they must, what we must know. We have to keep exact and live tabs. And then knowing what we must — how do we proceed - and if, we cannot stop it as we must attempt — then we must protect what is of value and beauty for a future - and so we try to be and create sanctuaries, refuges, alternative governments, secret niches of possibilities, for there to be a future.
It is my first time commenting here, and I appreciate your thoughtful reply. I am Canadian, but since Trump got involved in politics ten years ago, I have been paying very close attention to American cultural and political life, reading both the New York Times and the Washington Post religiously, as well as reading news online and watching broadcast television. And I really do believe the sentiment out there that Americans are sleepwalking into a dictatorship. Well, you seem to be almost there. I mentioned USAID because that is what has upset me the most. Reading the coverage – broadcast television is barely touching it – it seems hundreds of thousands, if not millions, worldwide will die. Suffering will explode globally as lifesaving food and medicine is denied. Your country will become reviled. And seasoned professionals like you, as well as those with expertise in all industries, will be vilified or marginalized. Just as they are currently being in all aspects of government and the military. And the demoralization amongst those who have dedicated their lives to service….I don’t even want to think about it. To protect the things you speak of, in my mind, Americans first must be informed about the extent of what is happening. Too many have been tuning out and are only now starting to wake up. So I hope others will join me here in adding more they think people need to be aware of, because if people are aware the extent of it, and they take it seriously, they will jump into action.
Just a tiny side note re "Pu'uhonua" from Hawaiian cultural understanding: Pu'uhonua: Unlike the lands outside of it, Pu'uhonua were not governed by the Ali'i (high class in the sense of hereditary nobility, or rulers...) but by the Gods they revered. One translation of Pu'uhonua is "rising/elevated lands" and alludes to the function a Heiau (temple) of this type served. (In a "Pu'uhonua...a temple of some kind was created to pray and mark place... often made of stones...) In a modern sense, it is interesting to ponder what kind of a place of prayer we/one could build in places of sanctuary...maybe it is only in the individual heart.! but culturally, it denoted a literal location.) I think about this, as i lived for many years in the hawaiian isles. xxx, margo
This is so important to differentiate. And even more essential to ask how we create the Pu’uhonuas we need now. Really need now. How do we create sanctuary, really for each other, forall beings.
thank you Deena for your writing and thank you for your clarity in this piece. the heart is in the underground network and the flame continues in the spirit of vital connections.
A related idea is that of refugia, small environments where it is possible for plants and animals which are extinct elsewhere to survive. I learned about this through the study of the metasequoia, a tree that was thought to be extinct but was re-discovered after millennia in a small valley in China, then brought back to life and spread around temperate gardens everywhere. You have created such spaces within so many of us both individually and collectively. We must use them to center ourselves, to keep ourselves sane, and to create actions that will be effective and meaningful, not just assuage our consciences that we are "doing something." Thank you.
Dear Mary - Yes to refuge - and how essential to speak of it here and now for the plants and animals which are also so endangered by what is happening by and to the humans now. I love what you write — spaces within us — that we might be refuge or we might be sanctuary - that we might be safe houses for all the beings. You have brought it to another level of reality through the metasequoia flouishing again.
YOU MATTER HERE< ALOT...........thank you
thank you!
Many decades ago, i was working with the Los Angeles office of CISPES housed on a top floor in the Women’s Building near DTLA. A floor or two below our offices was the Women’s group itself. If my memory serves, you were teaching there. I remember joining one of your workshops. I just stumbled across you on Substack. Very pleased about that!!!
Yes indeed. Glad to connect with you again. And now we will have to be in strong solidarity with El Salvador again. The ‘deal’ that was just made with El Salvador needs to be on the list of Fascist or Nazi activities taken on by this current government.
Yes. Tragic to see what happened to those peoples’ revolutions in Central America. Certainly did not result in freedom and democracy for everyday folk
Deena's is an essential voice in these challenging (to say the least!) times.
Additionally, please follow my former P.S. 175 Queens, N.Y. classmate, Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who is a leading expert on authoritarianism, a frequent guest on MSNBC, & also Pacific Palisades-connected here: https://lucid.substack.com/subscribe
Hi Deena, thank you for this beautiful letter about Sanctuary and Fascism and the I Ching question/answer. These are horrifying times, perhaps even more than we imagine if this administration gets its way past the next elections. I am offering here two links that helped me get a clearer understanding of the long-term vision the "tech bros" have in mind and the mindset of their favorite philosopher Curtis Yarvin. I hope these help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RpPTRcz1no
and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcSil8NeQq8&t=940s
In Black Dawn, Bright Day, Sun Bear shared a vision of resilient, self-sustaining communities that would be within walking distance of each other. He foresaw a time when modern infrastructure might fail due to environmental, economic, or social upheavals, and people would need to return to a more localized way of living.
His idea was that these small communities, spread out but close enough for easy access, would allow people to share resources, support each other, and live in harmony with nature. Each community would focus on self-reliance, growing its own food, using sustainable energy, and maintaining a deep spiritual connection with the land. His vision aligns with Sanctuary, Indigenous ways of living and ecological principles, emphasizing cooperation, balance, and preparation for potential societal shifts. Seems we have arrived at the times Sun Bear saw in his vision.
"The cancellation of a University of North Carolina legal scholar’s scheduled talk at a U.S. attorney’s office on the complicity of German lawyers in the creation of the Nazi state. "
do you have details? ... thanks
YES! https://uncpressblog.com/2025/01/31/academic-freedom-and-open-discourse/
From the Blog of U of North Carolina Press - above - Recently, two of our Canadian authors, Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Derek Silva, both respected university scholars who have been critical of US policy on Palestine, faced restrictions on their ability to enter the country for a bookstore event for their new book, The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game. Nathan Kalman-Lamb was denied entry at the US border and informed that he would need to obtain a visa for future travel to the United States, and Derek Silva was able to attend the event, but has since had his NEXUS status revoked, affecting his ability to travel freely. These actions—occurring during heightened political tensions and renewed governmental restrictions on movement—raise concerns about the suppression of critical scholarship and the ability of international voices to engage in academic dialogue within the United States.
These developments echo other recent incidents of academic and historical inquiry being curtailed. This past week, Eric Muller, author of Lawyer, Jailer, Ally, Foe: Complicity and Conscience in America’s World War II Concentration Camps, faced an abrupt cancellation of a scheduled talk at a US Attorney’s Office, where he was set to speak on the role of lawyers in Nazi Germany. His lecture was reinstated after public outcry.
I have found the citation — see below!
thank you!
nice to see 'public outcry' this way...