What Now?

—guest post by Eli Shannon, Local 328 PAC chair—

“And I also pray that the fake election will be revealed because there’s — especially Georgia, you cannot tell me that President Trump did not win Georgia because people love him here. They may not in Atlanta or DeKalb County, but they love him in every place I’ve ever gone to. And I’ve gone to a couple of different rallies.” (Trump supporter Deborah Gordon)

President Trump rode a wave of lies, distortions, and “alternative facts” into the White House, starting with fabrications about former President Obama’s birthplace. Over the last five years, Trump has given a platform to conspiracy theories from Pizzagate to QAnon to COVID-19 denial to election fraud. These deceptions have fueled division and escalating violence, and have contributed to the deaths of more than 393,000 Americans to COVID-19 and the five deaths linked to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. In his rise to power, Trump gave broader platforms to Fox News personalities, fringe fake-news creators like OAN Network and Newsmax, and the likes of Roger Stone and Alex Jones, as well as to self-described white nationalists who may or may not believe the conspiracies, but who do know that others believing them helps their cause.

Unfortunately, the conspiracy theories and dishonesty are not likely to disappear after President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20. Fox News and duplicitous politicians have a vested interest in spreading propaganda to undermine the safety and solidarity of working people, regardless of what Trump does next. After he leaves office, Trump may continue to feed the baseless stolen-election conspiracy theories. And the tech giants are unlikely to stop profiting from the spread of misinformation via their platforms. Plenty of strategists across political and ideological lines have taken note of the effectiveness these ideas have had.

All of that is the bad news. The good news is that we as workers have the power to help change things for the better. The best way to counter conspiracy theories, fake news and outright lies is with groups of working people willing to join together, educate each other, share factual information and spread the truth to other working people.

If you’re feeling frustrated or scared, or like you don’t know how to impact the outside world as you stay home and work hard to keep Oregonians safe and healthy, you’re not alone. But one of the most important things you can do is educate yourself. Knowledge is a vaccine against misinformation. Two podcasts really stuck with me in recent months, and I think they help with understanding propaganda and conspiracy theories:

I also have two suggestions for action:

  1. Please join AFSCME Local 328 at the Defend Democracy Coalition’s Rally to Inaugurate Justice at Irving Park (located at NE 17th Ave. and Fremont St.) on Wednesday, January 20, from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. (See below for details.)

  2.  Get involved — there are many organizations in need of participants and members. If you aren’t sure where to start, AFSCME has many opportunities. Oregon AFSCME Council 75 has multiple caucuses our members can get involved with, such as the Black caucus, conservative caucus or environmental caucus. Local 328’s political-action committee is another way to get engaged on issues that affect working people. You can get involved as a steward or a member of one of our union’s committees. Organizations like Portland Jobs with Justice can always use participants, and there are also opportunities to participate in protests and join mutual-aid organizations.

There are so many options to get involved. Growing the number of people who are actively engaged in our communities will help counter misinformation and make our communities stronger.

 
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