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Celebrities, Activists Publish Anti-Fascist, Anti-Trump Ad In NY Times
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 5, 2017
Modified Jan 5, 2017
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 5, 2017
Modified Jan 5, 2017
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Rosie O’Donnell, Debra Messing, and a handful of celebrities and activists have joined forces with RefuseFascism.org, a Cornel West and Carl Dix-helmed group dedicated to opposing the incoming Trump Administration and calling Trump's presidency "illegitimate."
The group took out a full page ad in the Times yesterday calling for a monthlong resistance effort against Trump:
nyt-no-16-1-4 by johnd7463 on Scribd
Refuse Fascism is also asking for donations to help reprint the Times ad in papers across the country, as well as "to support volunteers going to D.C., to produce millions of copies of Refuse Fascism material and get them out everywhere, and to support organizers and speakers."
It's a noble cause, and there's nothing wrong with celebrities speaking out. Influential people should be speaking out against Trump, and advocating activism, and fighting him at every turn. The anti-fascist ad includes plenty of long-outspoken influential artists, like Saul Williams, Alice Walker, and Naomi Wallace. I'm still a little wary of celebrity protests of this kind—maybe I'm shellshocked after watching Hillary Clinton become besties with Katy Perry, but there is something a little hollow about, say, Debra Messing signing her name to an anti-Trump ad in the Times, or Jennifer Lawrence declaring a Trump presidency will be "the end of the world," or, I don't know, Johnny Depp's Trump impersonation on Funny or Die. People in Hollywood make a billion times more than everyone else, and celebs screaming, “BUT DONALD TRUMP IS BAD” doesn’t necessarily mean anything to someone in Michigan who hasn't had a job in four years, or even to someone who will directly suffer under a Trump regime.
Still, it's good to know we in the Trumpsistance have comrades in arms, and there's a lot celebrities can and should do in addition to loudly standing up to Trump in protest. They can donate by the boatload to groups like Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, for instance (seriously, dig up your millions, WE NEED THEM.) They can draw attention to local elections, which are even more important now that we're under GOP rule. They can kick off boycotts, testify in Congress, take in Syrian refugees and illegal immigrants, make underground protest film and art more mainstream, or, hell, embed socialist subliminal messaging throughout CBS’s weeknight programming. The upcoming apocalyptic world is your oyster, celebs—don't waste it.
Tagged
protest
resist fascism
trump
Rebecca Fishbein
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