In case there was any remaining doubt, the Republican majority in the NC General Assembly have now made perfectly clear their gleeful contempt for democracy. The measures pushed through in this latest special session are a naked power grab with the specific and unmistakable intent of nullifying last month’s election.
Since the spring, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Native Americans from nearby tribes, and allied activists have been gathered at Sacred Stone Camp to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. Their efforts, as well as the militarized police response to their peaceful protests—which has includedwater cannons, rubber bullets, mace, and more—have made national news.
But the fight to protect Native land and clean water is not limited to North Dakota.
On Tuesday, over 47 percent of voters chose a racist, billionaire demagogue to lead the country. It was a victory for nativism, bigotry, regressive economic theories, anti-LGBTQ identity politics, and antichoice policies. But it was not a repudiation of radical progressive programs.
In fact, the time is ripe for common-sense socialism to make concrete gains across the country–and it’s needed now more than ever.
