Sunday, July 9, 2023

Liberty and justice for whom?

 I haven't been blogging on "Moms for Liberty" the group out of Florida that started during the pandemic about masking, but shifted into book bans, anti-diversity work, and more; there's also a close relationship/overlap with Christian nationalism. They had a national gathering last week in Philadelphia, though, and the mainstream press did a not-great job in outlining what they're about, so I thought I'd share some links here to be sure we're more clear.


The claim is that this is "parent voice," but which parents advocating for what is very specific. 

Recommended reading (I'll add more if more comes to my attention): 

  • Inside Moms for Liberty’s summit: Big money and even bigger conspiracy theories from Media Matters for America
    In session after session, speakers offered a warped view of reality aimed at manipulating parents into believing they’re righteous liberators battling some ambiguous enemy located in public schools. They warned audience members that the teachers unions and other school officials that are “indoctrinating our kids” are on a mission to do everything from grooming their children to securing “world domination.”
    I’ve been following Moms for Liberty for over two years, and it’s now the fastest-growing self-described “parental rights” organization in the United States, hiding behind the innocuous descriptor to covertly push a far-right agenda. Its meteoric rise has coincided with an alarming increase in harassment and threats directed at teachers, administrators, and school officials across the country — so much so that the Southern Poverty Law Center designated Moms for Liberty as an extremist group this year. 

  • Moms for Liberty is part of a long history of rightwing mothers’ activism in the US from The Guardian
    More broadly, the group’s mission resonates with an established history of rightwing mothers’ movements that focused on schools in order to block movements for social equality and to preserve structures of white supremacy.

  • My Deeply Unsettling Return to the Moms for Liberty Conference from Mother Jones:
    Reading ABC’s piece a few days after the conference ended, I marveled not at its neutral tone, but at how much simply had been ignored.

  • Moms for Liberty flexes its muscle--and faces pushback from The Hechinger Report/Salon:
    This year, the disinformation about what actually happens in public school took on the sheen of familiarity. Strategy sessions covered ground that had become mainstream to many in attendance: “Comprehensive Sex Education: Sex Ed or Sexualization,” “Protecting Parental Rights,” “Protecting Kids from Gender Ideology,” “Cracking the SEL Code: The Manipulative Double Speak of Social Emotional Learning.” 

  • At Moms for Liberty Summit, 'Mama Bears' declare spiritual war on the 'radical left' from Religion Dispatches
    The vibe was strange, eerie, and excited—a cross between a White supremacist sorority meeting; a capitalist love-fest with deep bonding over hatred for “the Left,” the LGBTQ+ community, and anti-racism efforts (all dressed up as expressions of love for their children); and a pentecostal revival with some distinct NAR overtones.

  • Six reasons why Moms for Liberty is an extremist organization from The Hill
    Despite (or because of) the overheated rhetoric, many Americans appear to have very little substantive knowledge about Moms for Liberty.


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