No choice but to fight

Umut Can Fırtına

During his second term in the White House, US President Donald Trump continues to shake the world with his statements and actions, both domestically and internationally. In an attempt to reassert America’s waning global hegemony, he has taken many steps, including initiating a global trade war, while domestically deporting immigrants, attacking basic democratic rights and state institutions, and increasingly threatening universities. Even before the first 90 days of his term were over, Trump had already transformed the face of America. The rising pressure from the White House has also met with growing opposition.

We spoke to Prof. Dr. Bill V. Mullen, emeritus professor of American Studies at Purdue University, Indiana, and a leading figure in academic organising in the US, about the Trump administration’s repressive policies and American society’s response.

What’s behind Trump’s increasing repression at home? What is he aiming for?

The Trump regime represents a segment of the American ruling class that wants full power and aims to use government to increase its own wealth. And to do that, they are trying to eliminate all limits on their power. That means erasing laws and dismantling government institutions anything that could slow their power down. It also means using military force. They are using the genocide in Gaza as a pretext to deploy that force, especially through police and immigration services, so that there is no resistance. Now, anyone who opposes war, genocide, or Israel is branded an enemy of the state.

So this isn’t just about universities?

No, not at all, although universities are a primary target. They are the most oppositional sector in American society, especially when it comes to war. So attacks on universities are actually attacks on support for the Palestinian people. That’s the real reason universities are under attack.

Is there any resistance in the face of increasing repression?

Yes, there is a growing resistance. Let me give you a few examples. On one side, there is resistance from the “bourgeois democracy” — the liberal establishment that doesn’t want Trump to win. They use law and legal systems to block many of his actions, like in the cases of students or deported Venezuelans.

On the other side, there is a consistent counter-organising effort that criticises Israel’s war. Despite threats, many people are still protesting in support of the Palestinian people. These protests have shrunk under pressure, especially with student arrests like Mahmud Khalil, but they continue with speeches and smaller actions.

There is also a group called the “Sanctuary Campus Network” active in universities. Back in 2016, when Trump was elected and vowed to ban all Muslims, people began organising these sanctuaries. The idea was: “If you live in our city and Trump tries to deport or arrest you, we will protect you.” This movement is now being revived. Both the sanctuary city and sanctuary campus movements aim to protect students from Trump’s threats.

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

On Thursday, we held what we call a “Day of Action” for higher education. It was organised with academic unions, including the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), of which I’m a member. We called on people to stand up and protest the attacks on students, academic freedom, freedom of expression, and the massive budget cuts Trump is using as a weapon. Across the US, there were 200 protests in 44 states, with thousands participating. It was a great success, a first step towards a more organised resistance that brings students and faculty together. These protests were genuinely led by academics and teachers. We are now discussing how this movement can continue.

Will protests be enough? What kind of resistance is necessary to succeed against Trump?

Everything must be done. We must use all weapons at our disposal — law, courts, public protests. Workers must organise massive strikes, and discussions about that are already happening.

How are unions involved in this?

Union politics in America are complicated. Take, for example, one of the biggest, the United Auto Workers (UAW), which represents hundreds of thousands of car workers. It’s very powerful. However, its leaders currently support Trump’s tariffs. There’s a disconnect between the leadership and rank-and-file members. Union leaders argue these tariffs will bring more jobs to America.

That’s a terrible position because it reflects Trump’s nationalism. It encourages American workers to see foreign workers as enemies. It shows how difficult it can be for unions to protest Trump. But there are unions actively opposing Trump, like the AAUP. We’ve taken legal action against Trump’s deportation policies and budget cuts along with other organisations. Right now, it’s probably the best union in the US when it comes to full opposition to Trump.

Why are universities a key target?

Some believe what we’re witnessing is an experiment with fascism in America. At universities, we see Trump using tactics similar to Orban in Hungary or Modi in India. These authoritarian regimes try to control or destroy university systems and the courts, two institutions typically targeted by authoritarian governments.

Israel is another example. It similarly uses courts and openly controls its universities. It also destroyed every university in Gaza. We call this “scholasticide” a term coined about 15 years ago by British academic Karma Nabulsi. It refers to two things Israel does: destroying education in Palestine and restricting Palestinians’ ability to attend Israeli universities. In other words, an attempt to annihilate knowledge and education.

Israel has destroyed every university in Gaza. It has killed faculty, teachers, students. As university professors, our protest against the war is also a protest against scholasticide because this is a universal human right. That is a major part of our protest against Trump.

Why are antisemitism and opposition to Israel being used as justification for repression? What role does the Israel lobby play?

We give $3 billion to Israel every year. First the Biden administration, now Trump, both support the genocide. Trump uses the genocide to crush all protest and resistance against his administration. The Israel lobbies play a massive role in this.

In the US, there’s an organisation called AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). It gives huge amounts of money to American politicians to ensure they support Israel. It’s one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the country. Many politicians vote the way AIPAC wants. It’s a major reason why the US government supports the Israeli state. There’s a long history to this, but politically, I can say this: AIPAC is probably the single most important organisation defining what lobbying means in America.

But on the other hand, there is also a strong anti-Zionist Jewish movement in the US: Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). They organised their own protest as part of the Day of Action. They were protesting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), a Zionist organisation in the US. IHRA created a new definition of antisemitism about ten years ago.

According to their definition, if you criticise Israel or the Israeli state, you are antisemitic. This definition was first adopted about five years ago by the ruling party in the UK. Now, universities like Harvard have also embraced it.

Thursday’s protest showed that academics reject the IHRA definition by openly criticising Israel. This has become a major battlefield in America right now. The Zionist movement wants more IHRA, and we are fighting against it. Many politicians, influenced by AIPAC, support IHRA and want to use it as a weapon to silence Palestinians.

You said protests and lawsuits are only the first steps. Is this resistance spreading among citizens too?

Yes, it’s growing. Right after Trump was elected, he signed around 130 executive orders in his first week, many of them aimed at silencing people. He essentially said, “If you don’t agree with us, we’ll come after you.” It was terrifying.

The US, at least from a democratic rights perspective, used to be defined by “freedom of speech.”

True. Even some conservative people, some Republicans, are now criticising Trump for arresting students because they believe in freedom of expression. That, too, is a form of resistance, and it’s coming even from conservatives. For example, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported and sent to the mega-prison CECOT in El Salvador just for having tattoos, accused of being in the MS-13 gang.

His own supporters, many Republican senators and members of Congress, are demanding answers and calling for his return. Even the government admitted it was a mistake.
He’s now in prison in El Salvador, and Trump will not bring him back. America isn’t unique in wanting freedom of expression. Many countries value it.

But people in the US are now realising that Trump is trying to destroy that freedom. I think this will become the most common point of resistance. It’s why lawyers have had some success in court, and why our Thursday protest was so massive. This will continue. Even if Trump tries to suppress it, mainstream, bourgeois outlets like The New York Times hate him partly because of the issue of press freedom. They see him as someone who attacks media freedom. So yes, there is resistance, and it’s not going to stop.

You asked what is necessary. Everything. We need media, protests, courts, strikes every form of resistance. Whether we succeed or not, we don’t know, because we’ve seen that Trump is using the police and the army. Right now, he’s sent the army to the Mexican border to keep people out of the country. So we don’t know how far he’ll go. We’ve never seen this before. We don’t know if we’ll succeed. But I feel people are becoming braver, and many more will rise up.

How is this changing American society and its view of politics?

The US is dominated by two parties. Over the past 50 years, these parties have moved closer together. They are both very neoliberal and pro-capitalist. Both have undermined workers’ rights. Both are imperialist parties. All major wars the US has been involved in were supported by both parties from World War II to Vietnam to the genocide in Israel.

What’s happening now is that many people realise these two parties don’t serve their interests.
In the last election, millions refused to vote. In presidential elections, only about 35% of eligible voters cast ballots. The Democrats lost 7 million votes compared to the previous election. Many were angry at Biden and Harris for supporting the genocide.

So for many, both parties have failed. Trump is actually a symptom of that failure. He fills the vacuum they created. There is no real opposition to Trump within either the Democrats or Republicans, because they paved the way for his rise with their policies.

He simply amplifies those policies. Real resistance isn’t coming from those parties. It’s coming from us, the people, students, workers, lawyers, immigrants. We are not fighting for Democrats or Republicans. We are fighting for a different American society. I myself am a socialist and I want to see a socialist society. Because there’s a long tradition in America of being anti-socialist and anti-communist. Trump is strongly anti-communist. He attacks anyone who supports Black rights, women’s rights, trans rights and calls them “Marxists.”

Which has nothing to do with Marxism.

Exactly. Now we have a whole new witch hunt. Communists, Palestinians, immigrants, trans people — they’re all witches now, and he wants to burn them all. People are beginning to realise this is a life-or-death situation. “The Trump administration might be fascist, we could be imprisoned, and we might have no choice but to fight.” This is a growing movement within society. It will take some time. We need what we call a united front to bring everyone together and fight the potential of fascism in the US. But we also need a vision for a different society. As socialists, we want to end class inequality. We want housing, healthcare, and education for all.

If you look at the past 20 years in America, there have been a few major uprisings. The 2011 “Occupy” movement that took over Wall Street, the “Black Lives Matter” movement where 26 million people protested police violence and racism, and now the Palestinian uprising. When students set up their camps in 2024, it became the largest anti-war, anti-imperialist protest in the US since Vietnam. Vietnam changed how Americans viewed war and imperialist intervention. The Palestine movement is doing the same, it’s changing minds.

Do you think it will have the same impact?

Yes, but Trump is working just as hard for a “counter-revolution” to put the American ruling class back in power, to rebuild American imperialism, and to eliminate all forms of resistance to capitalism and imperialism.

As many now recognise, he is a symptom of a declining American empire. Life is getting worse for many people. Healthcare, infrastructure are deteriorating. People are addicted to drugs and painkillers. The gap between rich and poor is immense. Many who voted for Trump live terrible lives. Their only form of expression is anger and maybe they voted for him hoping he would be their saviour. But he’s not a saviour. He’s clearly the enemy. If we can destroy Trump’s counter-revolution, we may have a chance for a different society. Socialism would be my choice. We must convince people that there is an alternative to Trump, to the Democrats, to the Republicans. That’s what many of us are fighting for.

Is this a turning point? Will America come back?

I don’t think we’ve reached boiling point yet. Occupy, Black Lives Matter, and Palestine… This is an entire generation, mostly under 40, and they’ve participated in many of these protests. So the potential is huge. But America is a geographically massive country — 370 million people — and it’s the most powerful capitalist state in the world. It’s a hard place to create change. But what I see is this: the water is heating up.

Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled Savaşmaktan başka çare yok, published in BirGün newspaper on April 21, 2025.