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Discrimination against trans Olympians has roots in #NaziGermany

The forgotten Olympic history of #TransAthletes.

by Alex Abad-Santos
Updated Aug 1, 2024

Excerpt: "Outside of the [Olympic] Games, trans people face so much backlash, often for simply existing. The conversation around sports is particularly fraught, from children’s athletics right up through the pros. Despite the International Olympic Committee vowing to be more inclusive, the future for trans athletes is unclear.

"It all raises the question: How did we get to this point, and did it always have to be this way?

"The answers found in historian and journalist #MichaelWaters’s The Other Olympians: #Fascism, #Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports might be surprising. Waters’s book traces the emergence of #ZdeněkKoubek, a track and field star representing the country formerly known as Czechoslovakia who, at 21, won two medals — a gold in the 800m and a bronze in the long jump — at the 1934 Women’s World Games. (The Women’s World Games was the precursor to women competing at the Olympics). In 1935, Koubek announced that he would be living life as a man and swiftly became an international celebrity.

"Perhaps the most intriguing facet to Koubek’s story was in the public response. Koubek was more welcomed and celebrated than we might imagine. There was an open-mindedness and empathy to the reception of Koubek and his gender identity and expression in the 1930s.

"Waters also pinpoints where and when that changed, specifically at the #1936Olympics in #Nazi Germany. Armed with a propensity for #eugenics, #GenderAnxiety, and a startling lack of scientific evidence, a small set of Nazi officials influenced the International Olympic Committee into #GenderSurveillance and #TransPanic — stuff that eerily mirrors the #transphobic attacks that athletes, cis and trans alike, face today."

Read more:
vox.com/culture/364032/trans-a
#TransgenderAthletes #SexTesting
#TransRightsAreHumanRights

Koubek ID scan
Vox · Discrimination against trans Olympians has roots in Nazi GermanyBy Alex Abad-Santos

Hey, would you believe me if I told you that the President signed an executive order on February 18th that gives Trump, a guy who tried to make election officials declare him the winner of an election he lost (and launched a coup attempt when that didn't work) and has been talking about shutting down media organizations that criticize him, essentially complete control over the previously independent Federal Election Commission and Federal Communications Commission? I mean probably not right, since for-profit media has barely covered the issue even though it has a direct impact on their industry. Unfortunately, it's true:

truthout.org/articles/independ

Independent Agencies Oversee Elections and Media. Trump’s Seizing Their Reins.

"The order states that, “The heads of independent regulatory agencies shall establish a position of White House Liaison in their respective agencies,” and goes on to say: “Independent regulatory agency chairmen shall submit agency strategic plans … to the Director of OMB for clearance prior to finalization.” In other words, independent agencies will no longer be independent but will instead be ruled over by political commissars, their every action now scrutinized to make sure they are ideologically sympatico to the aims of the MAGA movement.

Two of the agencies subject to this new system are the Federal Election Commission (FEC) — a historically bipartisan, six-member organization that helps to set ground rules for how elections are run and financed — and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which, among other things, controls access to the country’s airwaves.

Trump has been angling for control of both of these agencies since the start of his administration."

Is any of this legal? Who the hell knows; but are you willing to bet a 6-3 fascist-high Supreme Court that has already endorsed the idea that Trump is above the law and the existence of an imperial presidency, are likely to stop him? I'm certainly not. Furthermore, to mount any sort of mass resistance to this type of "classic" fascist power grab ultimately targeting elections and media criticism of the regime, you'd probably have to know it's happening and understand why this executive order might be the single most dangerous thing Trump has signed since he took office again; and clearly for-profit media and a political class doing more collaborating with fascism than resisting it, don't consider informing you about this very relevant right now.

Folks, I dunno about you but I'm getting tired of waiting around for Trump to find his Reichstag Fire and finish crafting a multi-executive order version of the German Enabling Act while Very Serious PeopleTM keep pretending we don't know if Trump is going to go full Hitler and mustn't presume he means to do everything he openly says he's doing. We all heard this guy on tape pressuring election officials and even GOP Governors to "find" him thousands of votes and effectively rig the 2020 election for him. We're all watching as his Project 2025 nazi minion Brendan Carr uses his newfound powers as head of the FCC to threaten the broadcast licenses of media orgs that criticize him, try to shut down PBS and NPR, and even investigate media companies that the regime claims "promote diversity" like that's some kind of crime. So when Trump, the imperial president, passes an executive order that gives him complete effective control of the agencies that regulate American elections and what passes for the "free press" in the United States, you'd have to some kind of credulous rube to believe he's doing so for any other purpose besides rigging elections for fascists and eliminating whatever portions of the US media there are that won't carry water for the fascist administration and the odious ideology animating it. There's not a lotta wiggle room here; either you're a complete fucking muppet, or you're willing to quietly bootlick for a fascist President while he rips pages directly from Hitler's playbook to create his very own American Pork Reich.

I guess the only question left then, is which of those two possibilities best describes an American political and media class supposedly opposed to Trump's fascist regime, that doesn't want to talk about it before it's too late to stop him?

Truthout · Independent Agencies Oversee Elections and Media. Trump’s Seizing Their Reins.A little-noticed executive order may in the long run have the largest impact on US democracy.
#Fascism#Trump#FCC

So uh, what stage of "you can't call it fascism!"TM is it when Downmarket Mussolini sends the immigration Gestapo that pretty much answers to only him, to unlawfully arrest student protest leaders who legally in the country, and disappear them into the labyrinth of the American migrant carceral complex?

theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m

Ice arrests Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia protests, lawyer says

"Mahmoud Khalil was at his university-owned apartment, blocks from the private Ivy League university’s main campus in New York when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents entered the building and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told the Associated Press.

One of the agents told Greer by phone that they were executing a state department order to revoke Khalil’s student visa. Informed by the attorney that Khalil, who graduated last December, was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that too, according to the lawyer.

The arrest comes as Donald Trump vows to deport foreign students and imprison “agitators” involved in protests against Israel’s war in Gaza."

As the story goes on to mention, Khalil, who is Palestinian, is in the United States on a legally-issued Green Card, which cannot be revoked by either ICE Gestapo pigs or our fascist State Department without the order of an immigration judge; which makes this an unlawful arrest and detention. What the story doesn't discuss however is that Khalil's wife, who is eight months pregnant, is an American citizen. I mention these things not because it would somehow be "okay" for the fascist Trump regime to snatch up a student leader for the (not illegal) "crime" of protesting a genocide if he only had a student visa, or his wife wasn't a U.S. Citizen, but to point out that clearly the administration and its security forces do not give a flying fuck about any of the rules they're violating or laws they're breaking to punish dissent. Furthermore, reports posted on social media by a person identifying themselves as Khalil's lawyer, indicate that the Department of Homeland Security has *already* moved Mahmoud, possibly as far as Georgia, and thus he does not have access to legal representation. If this were Middle Eastern country with oil reserves, our establishment would rightfully note that the regime has thus effectively "disappeared" what amounts to a political prisoner.

Folks, I don't want to sound like a broken record here, but like I've been telling you (even long before Trump was re-elected) the fact is that fascists don't give a fuck the about laws, rules, or standard operating procedures. If the law can be used to justify seizing power, eliminating civil rights, and punishing enemies they're happy to employ it. But if not, they'll replace or simply ignore any rule that gets in the way of the attempts to purge the opposition and transform society into the full on fascist dictatorship of their dreams. You don't get to let this one slide because "he's not an American," you don't care about Gaza, or you've been taught to hate student protestors by your media and the larger ruling class establishment. If Americans (including the nominal opposition in the US establishment) stand by and watch this happen to folks like Mahmoud Khalil, then it is an absolute historical certainty that it is only a matter of time before Trump is sending jackbooted thugs after anyone who won't goosestep along with the fascist order - and that includes figures in our complicit media and political classes. A whole bunch of affluent liberals have spent the past couple of years tossing around historical warnings about how Nazism and the Holocaust happened in Germany; now its time to prove you understand the lessons those words were trying to teach you about resisting the slide into overt fascism before it goes far enough that you can no longer stop it - because I assure you, if you tolerate this then (you and) your children *will* be next.

The Guardian · Ice arrests Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia protests, lawyer saysBy Guardian staff reporter
#Fascism#Trump#ICE

I might have to post about this again if and when Trump actually signs the order, but I wanted to highlight this Guardian post because White House staff secretary Will Scharf really goes out of his way to give away the whole fascist game of Calvinball going on here.

This is fascist ideological policing 101 and yet another example of the crass word games these nazis are using to create a fascist dictatorship in America. Scharf literally admits that it's NOT just criminal activity the regime intends to target, but literally "what *we* would consider to be improper activities" - and by we, he means the fascist Trump administration of course. Furthermore Scharf goes on the clarify the government intends to prevent student loan forgiveness for federal employees that "support" illegal immigration and foreign terrorist organizations, and as we just discussed yesterday "support" is a nebulous term that means whatever the fascists want it to mean, and by pre-emptively declaring anyone who opposes Israel's genocide in Gaza to be "pro-Hamas" the regime has the ability to accuse anyone protesting a genocide funded, armed, and supported by the American empire, of "supporting foreign terrorist organizations." Have you posted criticism of Israeli crimes against humanity in Gaza online? Have you publicly objected to cruel ICE raids targeting hard-working migrants and their children? Then these fascist assholes literally mean people like you when they're discussion who this will target.

A lot of people are going to ignore this because "it's just student loan forgiveness for federal employees" and American attitudes towards students and loan forgiveness have been poisoned by a mainstream discourse that has taught them to hate college students and assume anyone getting loan forgiveness is a parasite who is getting away with something they don't have access to. The fact is however that the Trump regime is asserting the government's right to marginalize anyone who doesn't agree with their odious ideological positions, and that opposing those positions makes you ineligible for rights and support services that are by design, legally open to everyone who qualifies. Historically speaking, this is always how fascist regimes and ideological dictatorships start. They don't build Dachau on day one, they start by restricting access to government services and denying the benefits of a larger democratic society to targeted marginalized groups "regular" people don't like very much for typically hateful reasons. Once they've got you to agree that the government has the right to punish and revoke the rights and privileges of *some* people for ideological reasons, you've now handed them a skeleton key and a proof of concept model for doing it to literally anyone the fascist regime says is "bad" or even just "wrong."

Replied in thread

@muiren We watched Origins last night, excellent, just as we’d expected of Ava DuVernay, and are glad to see our local public library has Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents in multiple formats, including large print, sound recording, and book adaptation for young adults. montereylibrary.org/cgi-bin/ko

I know this story is a few weeks old at this point, but given that just yesterday I was chatting with someone in my own life who was completely unaware of it, I thought I might take a moment to highlight why it's not being reported well in our media, and most importantly talk about what Google's open signal that they'd love to collaborate with Downmarket Mussolini and our fascist Pork Reich government on whatever nightmare bullshit these nazis want to do, actually means.

truthout.org/articles/amid-oth

Amid Other Pro-Trump Moves, Google Maps Makes “Gulf of America” Name Change

"In the U.S., the gulf will be displayed as the “Gulf of America.” In Mexico, it will remain the “Gulf of Mexico.” From anywhere else in the world, the body of water will be labeled as “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).”

Although the change is consistent with the Google Maps policy on names for geographic locations elsewhere, the move comes as Google has made numerous attempts to endear itself to Trump over the past several weeks.

The company, for example, gave $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. It also opted to end its diversity hiring targets following Trump’s executive order terminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and funding across the federal government. And along with the changes to its maps this week, Google removed Black History Month and Pride Month from its list of annual celebrations on Google Calendar.

Google also announced earlier this month that it would abandon its Responsible AI pledge, which included a promise not to use artificial intelligence to develop tech that could cause “overall harm” — including weapons and surveillance systems."

In terms of media coverage and how for-profit news orgs have treated this story, we're legitimately talking about a catastrophic failure to connect the obvious dots and ominous historical overtones in this situation. Most outlets are hell bent on covering Google's desire to collaborate with a fascist US government as a pathetic private sector attempt to curry favor with Trump, or story about Downmarket Mussolini's laughable obsession with names on maps. The sinister reality however is that it is in precisely HOW Google is choosing to curry favor with Trump, that how far they're willing to go reveals itself. Eliminating Black History Month from the calendar is objectively supporting a white supremacist regime objective, just as eliminating Pride Month from the calendar supports a heteronormative, anti-LGBTQ agenda. Changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico on its maps, even if it's just for American users, is an open signal of support for the Trump administration's hyper-nationalist, and increasingly expansionist agenda. This isn't currying favor with fascists; Google is signaling to the fascist administration, that they're ready to HELP THEM literally do fascism, presumably for profit.

All of which leads us to Google's abandonment of the responsible AI pledge, and why history doesn't repeat itself but often rhymes. In the lead up to the literal Holocaust, IBM (yes, THAT IBM) designed and supplied the Nazi Party with a punch card computing system that made it possible to identify and catalogue Jewish people and other targets of the Nazi regime for extermination; and they made a handsome profit doing so - as detailed in Edwin Black's groundbreaking work "IBM and the Holocaust: How America's Most Powerful Corporation Helped Nazi Germany Count The Jews." The fact is mass deportations, incarcerations, and exterminations are a data-centric activities, you simply can't undertake that kind of (repugnant) project without a way to organize, categorize, and easily access information about your targets; a task that becomes considerably easier if you can automate collection and analysis through say, fake AI programs. At its heart, Google is ultimately a data collection and organization company, which *already* maintains vast amounts of information about the populations and groups the Trump administration is threatening. And now that company is openly signaling to Downmarket Mussolini that they are not only "down to fascism" but are both equipped to help conduct various types of mass surveillance and organized purges, as well as prepared abandon ethical guidelines that would prevent them from doing so if the price is right - just like IBM did in the 1930's and the lead up to the Holocaust.

Of course you're not going to find that kind of analysis in the pro-capitalist, for profit media because those folks are just as busy trying to figure out how *they* can turn a profit from Trump's fascist agenda too; and that is a big part of why this modern fascist movement is winning, and easily.

Truthout · Amid Other Recent Pro-Trump Moves, Google Maps Makes “Gulf of America” Name Change OfficialGoogle also recently removed Black History Month and Pride Month from its calendar app.
Continued thread

#ForcedSterilization is a worldwide problem!

As #Japan starts compensation payments, #ForcedSterilisation continues around the world

#NonConsensual #sterilisation of those considered genetically inferior persists in some parts of the world today

by Ewan Bolton, 18 February 2025

"Just last week, in the Miyagi prefecture of Japan, the local governor met victims of an official eugenics policy to apologise for the suffering they underwent.

"'On behalf of the prefecture, I would like to offer my heartfelt apologies for the immense suffering caused to the 900 (victims),' said Murai Yoshihiro while lowering his head.

"For many, the words 'forced sterilisation' bring to mind #NaziGermany and the devastating #eugenic policies pursued by #fascist regimes in the 1930s and 1940s. But the non-consensual sterilisation of those considered genetically inferior continued through the 20th century and persists in some parts of the world today.

"In January, victims of Japan’s forced sterilisation programme were finally able to apply for compensation for the first time. Between 1948 and 1996, at least 16,500 people were forcibly sterilised in Japan under the country’s #EugenicProtectionLaw. Nearly 60,000 more underwent #abortions without, or with only dubious consent. Most were mentally handicapped people or those with hereditary diseases.

"As Japan finally addresses this legacy, victims of forced sterilisation in #Peru are still fighting for compensation after 370,000 people were sterilised in what the UN has described as a potential crime against humanity. And in the #UnitedStates, #India, #China and parts of #Europe, non-consensual sterilisations continue to this day.

"As with the Nazis, almost all cases can be traced back to the discredited #PseudoScience of eugenics which was developed in the #UK at around the turn of the last century and had many supporters, including #WinstonChurchill.

"Japan’s Eugenic Protection Law was introduced in the wake of World War II. It granted medical institutions the right to administer sterilisations and abortions without the consent of patients. Of the 25,000 people sterilised under the programme, according to government figures only 8,000 gave consent. The legitimacy of the consent in these cases is disputed.

"A large number of the victims were children, some as young as nine years old. In Miyagi prefecture, in the northwest of the main island, more than half of the 859 sterilised between 1963 and 1981 were under the age of 18.

"At a press conference last month in Hyogo prefecture, a #DeafWoman, now in her 80s, described the emotional pain of being given an abortion without her consent. 'I was taken to the hospital, and I thought I would be going to the general medicine department. I was very surprised because I was taken to the gynaecology department … I am unable to forget what happened at that time'.

"In her prefecture alone, there are '14 or 15 other [#DeafPeople] who suffered harm' that are known about, 'but there are undoubtedly more', said Yoshimichi Hongo, chairman of the Hyogo Prefecture Association for the Deaf."

Read more:
telegraph.co.uk/global-health/
#WorldPol #reproductiverights #Fascism #BodilyAutomony #DisabledPeople #ReproductiveAutonomy #Sterilization #Genocide

The Telegraph · As Japan starts compensation payments, forced sterilisation continues around the worldBy Ewan Bolton
Continued thread

America’s Forgotten History of #ForcedSterilization

By Sanjana Manjeshwar on November 4, 2020

"In early September, a nurse working at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (#ICE) detention center in #Georgia came forward with shocking allegations of medical neglect and abuse, claiming that numerous involuntary #hysterectomies (uterus removal surgeries) were performed on detained #ImmigrantWomen. This allegation understandably evoked fury and outrage among the general public, with numerous people denouncing it as a #HumanRights violation and yet another example of the current administration’s cruelty towards women and immigrants. Many people, including prominent liberal politicians and public figures, viewed it as something distinctly un-American and at odds with our country’s values — a common refrain that echoed in response to the allegation was 'This isn’t the America I know.' There were countless comparisons to #NaziGermany and other #totalitarian, human rights-abusing regimes, as well as a pervasive sense that the United States was engaging in a uniquely cruel and unprecedented act. Unfortunately, this is a misleading impression.

"While the allegations against ICE are undoubtedly horrific and must be investigated, they are not at all unprecedented or un-American — in fact, they are very American. The United States has a long, egregious, and largely unknown history of eugenics and forced #sterilization, primarily directed towards #PoorWomen, #DisabledWomen, and #WomenOfColor.

"The American #eugenics movement originated in the late 1800s and has always been undeniably based in #racism and #nativism. The word 'eugenics' originally referred to the biological improvement of human genes, but was used as a pseudoscience to justify discriminatory and destructive acts against supposedly undesirable people, such as extremely restrictive #ImmigrationLaws, #AntiMiscegenationLaws, and forced sterilization. The ultimate goal of the eugenics movement was to 'breed out' undesirable traits in order to create a society with a 'superior' genetic makeup, which essentially meant reducing the population of the #NonWhite and the mentally ill. The eugenics movement was widely accepted in American society well into the 20th century, and was not at all relegated to the fringes of society like one might expect. In fact, most states had federally funded eugenics boards, and state-ordered sterilization was a common occurrence. Sterilization was seen as one of the most effective ways to stem the growth of an 'undesirable' population, since ending a woman’s reproductive capabilities meant that she would no longer be able to contribute to the population.

"The Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell (1927) decided that a Virginia law authorizing the mandatory sterilization of inmates in mental institutions was constitutional. #CarrieBuck, a 'feeble minded woman' whose mental illness had been in her family for the past three generations, was committed to a state mental institution and was set to undergo a sterilization procedure which required a hearing. The Supreme Court found that the Virginia law was valuable and did not violate the Constitution, and would prevent the United States from 'being swamped with incompetence…Three generations of imbeciles is enough.' The Court has never explicitly overturned #BuckVersusBell.

"California’s '#AsexualizationActs' in the 1910s and 1920s led to the sterilization of 20,000 disproportionately #Black and #Mexican people who were deemed to be mentally ill. #Hitler and the #Nazis were reportedly inspired by #California’s laws when formulating their own #genocidal eugenics policies in the 1930s. When discussing the Asexualization Acts of California, Hitler wrote, 'There is today one state in which at least weak beginnings toward a better conception [of citizenship] are noticeable. Of course, it is not our model German Republic, but the #UnitedStates.'

"Throughout the 20th century, nearly 70,0000 people (overwhelmingly working-class women of color) were sterilized in over 30 states. #Black women, #Latina women, and #NativeAmerican women were specifically targeted. From the 1930s to the 1970s, nearly one-third of the women in #PuertoRico, a U.S. territory, were coerced into sterilization when government officials claimed that Puerto Rico’s economy would benefit from a reduced population. Sterilization was so common that it became known as '#LaOperación (The Operation)' among Puerto Ricans.

"Black women were also disproportionately and forcibly sterilized and subjected to reproductive abuse. In #NorthCarolina in the 1960s, Black women made up 65 percent of all sterilizations of women, although they were only 25 percent of the population. One Black woman who was subjected to a forced hysterectomy during this time was #FannieLouHamer, a renowned #CivilRights activist. Hamer described how nonconsensual sterilizations of working-class Black women in the South were so common that they were colloquially known as a '#MississippiAppendectomy'.

"Additionally, many Native American women were sterilized against their will. According to a report by historian Jane Lawrence, the Indian Health Service was accused of sterilizing nearly 25% of #Indigenous women during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1973, the year that Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Court, supposedly ensuring reproductive rights for all American women, the reproductive rights of thousands of Indigenous women were entirely ignored as they were forcibly sterilized.

"Forced sterilization, especially in exchange for a sentence reduction, occurs often in the criminal #LegalSystem today. Government-sanctioned efforts to prevent incarcerated people from reproducing were widespread in the 20th century, and still continue today. In 2017, a judge in #Tennessee offered to reduce the jail sentences of convicted people who appeared before him in court if they
'volunteered' to undergo sterilization. In 2009, a 21-year-old woman in #WestVirginia convicted of #marijuana possession underwent sterilization as part of her probation. In 2018, an #Oklahoma woman convicted of cashing a counterfeit check received a reduced sentence after undergoing sterilization at the suggestion of the judge. According to a report by the Center for Investigative Reporting, almost 150 women considered likely to return to prison were sterilized in California prisons between 2004 and 2003. Although they had to sign 'consent' forms, the procedure, when posed as an incentive for a reduced sentence, generates an ongoing debate about whether or not consent actually exists in these situations. Proponents of the sterilization of incarcerated individuals often cite a lack of 'personal responsibility,' when in reality, many of these individuals face a lack of support and resources. Even if incarceration was somehow the singular determinant of one’s morals and character, sterilization as part of a prison sentence is still a fundamental violation of the right to #ReproductiveAutonomy — something judges and prison officials choose to ignore."

Read more:
bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/20
#USPol #reproductiverights #Fascism #BodilyAutomony #USHistory #WhiteNationalism #Genocide

Berkeley Political Review - UC Berkeley's only nonpartisan political magazine · America’s Forgotten History of Forced Sterilization - Berkeley Political ReviewIn early September, a nurse working at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Georgia came forward with shocking allegations of medical neglect and abuse, claiming that numerous involuntary hysterectomies (uterus removal surgeries) were performed on detained immigrant women. This allegation understandably evoked fury and outrage among the general public, with numerous people
Replied in thread

The Nuremberg trials (1945-6), held in Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany, were a series of trials involving the senior surviving Nazis to hold them accountable for waging war and committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Second World War (1939-45). #History #NurembergTrials #NaziGermany #SecondWorldWar #HistoryFact whe.to/ci/1-23653-en/

World History EncyclopediaNuremberg TrialsThe Nuremberg trials (1945-6), held in Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany, were a series of trials involving the senior surviving Nazis to hold them accountable for waging war and committing war crimes and...