I have really been struggling these past few days, this so-called "Holy Week". The reason for this is because I follow the news, and I have been following the case of the U.S. government's deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in particular. Relatedly, I have also read up on the CECOT facility in El Salvador that he has been taken to. If you don't know what I am talking about, please read up on it, this is a good starting point.
I think that this case, combined with Trump and President Bukele of El Salvador making an arrangement to send more people to CECOT, combined with Trump now saying that he is wanting to send U.S. citizens to CECOT, combined with Trump saying that El Salvador should build more facilities like that, combined with Trump openly refusing to comply with a Supreme Court ruling, combined with Trump insisting that he will serve a third term despite there being a constitutional amendment prohibiting that...
Added to that, there are videos circulating of ICE agents forcibly smashing through people's windows and dragging them out of their cars, there are stories of people coming to the U.S. to be tourists and being detained for days at a time for no apparent reason, there are photos of a Republican U.S. Congressperson giving the "thumbs up" sign in front of a jail cell at CECOT...
All of this has led me to believe that the U.S. is now an openly fascist state. For all intents and purposes, the line has now been crossed.
This has been a lot for me to take in, it has been a lot for me to process. And these past few days, it has really been hitting me hard. I've been crying a lot, I've been panicking a lot, I've had intense nightmares in my sleep. It feels to me akin to the death of a loved one, in this case it is the death of the country that I once knew, the country that I called "home".
And it's not like I haven't seen this coming either. For about ten years now I have been saying that Trump is a fascist who wants to turn the U.S. into a fascist state. Since the '90's I have been saying that the U.S. is headed in a fascist direction. And now it's here, now it has finally arrived. I guess that it is one thing to intellectually know that all this shit is coming, and it is another thing to see it all happening in real time.
Part of what I find to be so jarring is that I am now currently at the Tamera intentional community in Portugal, I'm in the midst of a two-month work/study program here. Tamera is a beautiful place filled with beautiful people that is openly espousing the values of peace, love, intimacy, transparency, care, etc. There's a lot of nice plants, animals, singing, dancing, art, communal spiritual practices, healthy vegan food, it's kind of like a little paradise here. It just boggles my mind that both Tamera and CECOT can exist at the same time on this same planet Earth.
I then think about today, the day that I am writing this, Good Friday. If you take away all of the theology and mysticism surrounding the event, what it is basically is a story of a man being tortured to death in public by the government. The crucifix, a symbol that is so well-known all around the world for such a long period of time, is basically a three-dimensional representation of a man being tortured. Nobody seems to notice this or think about this, it is so commonplace and normal that it is like background noise to us at this point.
Then my mind goes to another thing that is commonplace in our society: concentrated animal feeding operations, or "CAFOs" for short. These facilities are what make it possible for the massive numbers of people in our society who eat meat and consume animal products to get what they demand. And I realize that one thing that disturbs me about CECOT is that, in its essence, it is a CAFO for human beings. People are kept locked up in large numbers, packed in together, not allowed to go outside, with insufficient sanitation, the lights are kept on 24/7, they are being monitored 24/7... It's a CAFO for people.
I then begin to realize how vast and pervasive the brutality and cruelty of our culture is. From the fascism that has slowly been creeping into American society for decades and has finally now come to fruition, to the foundational cultural icons and belief structures, to the food that people eat every day, there is a throughline of violence, callousness and subjugation. As someone who greatly values empathy, compassion & care and who wants to establish a society based on these values, I am struck by the enormity of what we face.
Before leaving for Portugal I was lucky enough to spend some time with a friend in-person, and together we watched the 1982 movie Gandhi, one of my favorite films. I was deeply moved while watching this film, even though I have seen it many times before. One of the thoughts that crossed my mind while watching this film was that the kind of struggles and hardships that Gandhi and his colleagues experienced while working for radical nonviolent social change is something that we will have to experience now in the U.S. as well. I didn't ask for this situation, I was born into it, and because of my commitment to nonviolence these series of choices are what I am now faced with.
And again, landing with this thought, I am taken aback. I'm emotionally struck and bewildered. Gandhi's Satyagraha includes a profound personal commitment to truth, nonviolence, civil disobedience, forgiveness... And it also includes a commitment to fearlessness, to non-possession, and to the acceptance of experiencing suffering. That's a tall order. Am I ready for that? I don't know.
In light of recent events these past few days, weeks and months, I wonder (to use the language of the Vision Mobilization framework) what is my "Purpose" with regards to all that is happening now? What is "mine to do"? Here in Tamera the answer to all of the world's ailments is pretty straightforward: it's to implement the globql Healing Biotopes Plan. But is that really for me? Or is it something different? And if so, in what way?
I have much more to think about and sit with regarding all of this. I feel like I still have much more mourning to go through with all of this as well. And I wonder how all of this sits with your soul too.
I'd like to end this with a quote that has been on my mind a lot lately, by the German theologian and pastor Martin Niemöller:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
