Archives for January 2023

Connecting ourselves across race lines takes dedicated work and practice, intentional focus, self-awareness, other-awareness, radical hospitality, hope, compassion, empathy, and love. (So says the older [63], white, privileged guy raised on racism, capitalism, and the “American Dream”…) Building meaningful relationships across race, class, gender, abilities, geography, faith/non-faith/spiritual lines, and more, requires, well, more effort still. But not that much more. Because, as I’ve discovered, once one barrier is broken, the second, third, fourth, and fifth barriers melt away with greater and greater ease. That’s the beauty — yes beauty! — of anti-Fascism in its highest form.

In a strange and awkward way, Fascism is a gift. It clarifies all that is ugly and evil in the world. (See https://www.americanfascists.us/the-three-cornerstones-of-american-fascism/) The opposite of ugly and evil, the best practiced version of anti-Fascism, is pro-Democracy: radical, bottom-up, participatory, non-violent, hospitable, hopeful, and loving.

Sounds simple, right? It’s not, of course. And it’s one major reason why the American experiment has gone sideways, in reverse, actually, especially during and since the watershed year 1968: Tet (Vietnam), MLK, Columbia U, Bobby Kennedy, Chicago Democratic Convention, and election of Nixon. Globally, events in Vietnam, Japan, Paris, Prague, Mexico City — and in a thousand more locations — reverberated the same, or similar, anti-Fascism and pro-Democracy demands in the streets, only to be crushed by State Power wedded to Corporate Power, Dominant Race Power, and local power (mob, religious, feudal family, land-owning, courts, police, and finance).

So this is why anti-Racism work is vital but not enough; it must be anti-Fascism and it must be global. We fight for universal transformative justice for all citizens, here and around the globe. For an injustice to one is an injustice to all.

Reflecting on the “miracle” year that was and projecting the “magical” year to come, I am most struck by the radical hospitality, hope, and love of the Cuban people we encountered in the first ten days of December 2022. Part of a Witness for Peace education tour across much of northern Cuba, comprised of 18 truth seekers from Oregon, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and New York, the trip broadened my conception of spiritual, personal, and historical connections – and the limitless possibilities that can spring forth from intimate encounters and exchanges within, across, and between cultures.

With more to say on the Cuban experience itself in future writings and presentations, my main takeaway from the ten-day tour is the remarkable resourcefulness and resilience of a neighboring island population with whom the United States government has been at war – economically, militarily, and psychologically – since 1960, the year after the Cuban Revolution succeeded in overthrowing the U.S.-backed, Fascist military dictator Fulgencio Batista (1952-1959). Setting aside the ongoing propaganda battle, still firmly planted in the Cold War Era that technically ended in 1991 (!), I know we can learn so much from Cubans’ compassion, hopefulness, and endurance. For me, saying and acting on “radical hospitality, hope, and love” is not enough; it needs to be both an organic, personal commitment and process, as well as an aspirational goal to wrap around the universal transformational justice goals that unite us in common vision, mission, and strategy.

So, I choose to call 2022 a “miracle” year not only because of what Cubans can teach us, but also for what we accomplished at OnePayerStates.org and JusticeforAll.global (including our breakthrough 05/20-21 Denver OPS hybrid convention, and 08/27 and 11/19 Intergenerational Justice Summits), and the Pennsylvania Midterm Miracle that likely spared the Keystone State (aka, birthplace of our Republic, Declaration, and Constitution) from plummeting into American-style Fascism 2.0 (see https://americanfascists.us), similar to Texas and Florida. Through a mostly grassroots, non-partisan, education and voter turnout campaign, our team of door knockers, phone bankers, and texters swept to victory up and down the ballot. That’s the most prosperous election I’ve been a part of in five decades. In addition, the electoral education and GOTV work I did with Andrea Miller and her team at Center for Common Ground, focused on rural BIPOC communities in nine Southern states, helped produce several more miracle outcomes.

Last, I hereby crown 2023 a “magical” year, as we continue to translate our electoral successes into policy gold: health and healthcare justice for all! Now that I have moved to the Great Northwest for the foreseeable future – for political (i.e., trailblazing Oregon and Washington universal healthcare campaigns) and personal (family) reasons – I am asking you to double down on your activist and financial support of One Payer States (which extends to the work here and at JusticeforAll.global. So, please consider recruiting and joining folks to volunteer here: https://onepayerstates.org/volunteer/ and to donate here: https://onepayerstates.org/donate/. Much-needed funds will allow us to hire a social media specialist at $150 a month, pay $1000 in annual dues for One-Click Politics (advanced lobbying software), and build a critical surplus to hire an executive director and field director in the coming miracle year. Thank you, as always, for your time and treasure generosity. We. Are. Winning.

Yours in radical hospitality, hope, determination, and love,

Chuck

Chuck Pennacchio

President, https://OnePayerStates.org

Founder, https://JusticeforAll.global

Blogger, https://AmericanFascists.us Senior Consultant, https://CenterforCommonGround.org