I’m feeling so uneasy with everything I’ve been seeing. I keep thinking about what we will be this time next year, and if shit hits the fan, what is your plan? I’m queer and was politically active in 2020, so I would potentially be considered a political enemy.
The only blueprint I can think of is what you do in an active shooter situation; Flee, Hide, Fight.
I know there’s that romantic notion of “don’t be a coward, get out and protest”, but I remember the brutality of the 2020 protests firsthand, and even then I thought “thank god I’m going toe to toe with the CPD and not the CCP”. Next time is going to be different. The president now has authority to send drone strikes. Protests and riots don’t stand a chance agains missiles and live rounds.
Flee- I have an Uncle in Montreal who my family could potentially use as a way to at least temporarily escape the chaos. The hope I’d have is that Canada and other countries would accept American refugees, however that’s not a guarantee.
Hide- If borders are closed, lay low and move away from major cities if possible. If civil war breaks out, try to get away from the violence even if you think your side will win. Todays losers may be tomorrows victors.
Fight- If cellular data/ social media algorithms can keep track of you, and surveillance can make sure there’s no movement, this would be the last resort of desperation. I guess if possible try to either find a group for safety in numbers, or conversely go guerrilla as groups of resistance would make easy targets.
Sorry my mind is running and I’m getting scared.
Western Europe is pretty decent if you can move and get a job here.
Europe, who is already seeing far right insurgencies due to a few immigrants? Yeah, good idea. And if Trump wins you can basically say goodbye to any sort of future that isn’t a hellscape. We’re already far behind our dues on climate change and this will be the final nail in the coffin.
So not everywhere in Europe is right wing (but there are similar trends in certain countries like the US). If the US falls, Europe will be the last stronghold for democracy (which might also fail in a few years).
Yup. That is the problem.
Fascism is on the rise around the world. And the countries that have stood firm in the face of it? They are juicy targets for strongman leaders needing an easy win.
At the risk of showing my indoctrinated “american excellence” ass… the US is really a big factor in global security. Because (unless you are on our side) we have a ridiculously large and over funded military and love proxy wars.
Strongman leaders? Yeah, vote for Eddie Hall, Tom Stoltman, Brian Shaw, Zydrunas Savickas, Hafthor Bjornsson, Mitchell Hooper, etc.
The only solace to be had is that the pendulum eventually swings back. But there’s going to be a lot of fuckin misery before that happens.
By that time we’ll see massive streams of climate refugees, water shortages, crop failures, etc.
I didn’t say it was a LOT of solace. 😁
But yeah I lean more towards “we are well and truly fucked” every year.
A few immigrants ? Remember that Europe got a whole bunch of refugees from Ukraine to look after.
And the USA is huge compared to Europe, especially to some small countries in Europe like Belgium, Holland.
The problem of the rise of far-right is more complex.
As a German I’m well aware about the amount of people we took in. Still nothing to get riled up over.
I’d like to second that. When it comes to “far-right boiling point” several countries in Europe look like a breeze compared to Project 2025 minded US. Far right is on the rise in Western-Europe but things are not so bad yet. Not sure about the specific gay friendliness per country but countries like Germany (except the East and part of the South), Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Holland, Belgium, France could be interesting to read more about. Portugal actually had its borders wide open for some time for immigrants to work and live there but they now have some (but not so bad?) restrictions for non-EU citizens.
France is 2 days away from an election which will see the Far Right grab the most seats ever in Parliament, the only question (hope really) is “will they get absolute majority or not”.
Holland fell not so long ago.
Belgium kinda holds through “sacred union” that vows to never sign an alliance with it, but at cities level it’s too late.
And Hungary is deep into it with Orban since a while now. Hungary which turn it is to lead the European Parliament (a rotating position). First political act? Go shake hands with Putin.
It’s gonna get complicated over here.
To me there is a significant difference between a possible US dictatorship a la Project 2025 and the Western Europe where the far right is in some governments but certainly not close to a dictatorship (Things are different in the East of Europe, for example in Hungary). And there’s more differences, compare worker unions in the US versus Europe. And compare gun ownership in the US versus Europe. Same for death penalty. I consider the EU future a breeze compared to the US future.
Isn’t this a kind of positive feedback circle though? Right-wing wins, left-wing people move and leave the country, leaving more and more right-wing people left. Then obviously right wing wins again next election, more left-wing people leave and so on and so on.
This can also happen with just people moving from right-wing states to left-wing states. I suspect this is a contributing factor to the increasing split in american politics as people tend to stay where their politics align and leave where it doesn’t.
This doesn’t seem sustainable? Unless the states split into more independent nations that don’t have to align on federal politics.
That’s fine. If we can make it easier for people to leave, then the US becomes a trash hole country full of idiots.