Since the US election on November 5, 2024, I’ve been thinking so much about people and nations of the world who have experienced the terrible and frightening road to fascist dictatorship. I feel such a kinship with anyone who has experienced this horrific decline or destruction of basic human rights, and wonder how they coped, how they maintained their optimism in the face of so much upheaval and uncertainty, knowing, generally, what was likely coming, yet not knowing specifics or how deep the poisonous roots went?
For me, who has been blessed to live in these United States in a relatively free Republic, my entire life, one thing I realize is how much i have taken certain freedoms for granted, and also how much white privilege has benefited me. It’s true that, as a person with disabilities, I have experienced discrimination, and have sometimes had to fight for rights people without disabilities have not had to fight for. But the underlying principle of freedom has made that all possible through constructive advocacy and litigation when advocacy and negotiation have failed.
With the conversion of the Republican party to fascist ideas, and their continual march, moving toward the far right of center, as they have, the seemingly indestructible building blocks of freedom, as I have known it, are quaking, and have the potential to topple over, altogether, if many Republicans, political conservatives and right-wing Christians ultimately succeed in taking control of life in this country, so much will be lost. This possibility seems more real with each passing day, and the ramifications of what may be at hand leave me breathless and filled with unbelievable anxiety.
When Elon Musk purchased Twitter, now X, I had similar concerns. I felt then, he would turn Twitter into his own personal right-wing mouth-peace and give people with those views unlimited rights, at the expense of freedom of the press and freedom of speech. In my opinion, he has done exactly this and more. In addition, he has taken away overall accessibility for those who use screen readers, by denying API access to third party Twitter apps, as well as dismissing most employees who work on maintaining platform accessibility. I was glad to leave X for the above reasons, and also because I felt the social constructs were becoming mostly about hate and disinformation, and I did not want to have algorithms controlling what posts appeared on my X timeline. I joined Mastodon, a decentralized social network, comprised of many thousands of individual servers, and a platform using no algorithms, whatsoever.
After the election, earlier this month, I made another proactive choice, in an effort to protect the continued freedom to speak out. I’m not sure it will ultimately protect those rights, but I deleted my Google account to get away from big tech, in so far as is practicable, and I joined vivaldi.net because its server is located outside of the US, in a democratic country where human rights and freedom of speech still remain respectedand protected, and where that country’s laws apply, rather than possible laws passed by the Trump cult, in retribution for those who courageously speak out against fascism and tyranny, in the US. Perhaps, I’m over reacting, but, in my heart, I don’t think so. I believe all kinds of journalists, climate activists and public interest advocates may be targeted–the ACLU, NAACP, and others are prime examples, along with those who support LGBTQ rights, civil rights, religious rights and disability and women’s rights. That leaves you with racists, fundamentalist Christians, white supremacists, and men who advocate for and thrive on patriarchy, all of which I want no part of.
I haven’t the words to express how profoundly grateful I am to the staff of vivaldi.net for providing a platform for freedom of expression to live and thrive for everyone, especially those of us in the United States. I am so thankful, I still have a safe place to share my concerns and ideas about freedom. That continued opportunity is priceless, and one I shall never again take for granted.
