11/05/2023
In recent international news, Disney in Florida, one of the largest employers in the state and a key driver of tourism, has hit back with a lawsuit against attempts by the far right administration of Ron De Santis to silence its opposition to reactionary policies. NBC News reports that on Wednesday Disney filed a lawsuit in federal court against officials alleging a "targeted campaign of government retaliation" after the company publicly opposed a state law that critics call "Don't Say Gay." Equality Florida, a diversity advocacy group, says “We knew going into this legislative session that DeSantis’s GOP legislature would use their supermajority to ram through an unprecedented Slate of Hate – but that doesn’t make these bills passing any less frightening or dangerous.” Activists also note that the far right government is also undermining the teaching of black history in schools. Civil rights groups the NAACP, Disability Rights Florida and Common Cause, have also united to sue Florida over attempts to disenfranchise black and disabled voters. The left wing feminist group the Freedom Socialist Party writes in the latest issue of its newspaper “The current wave of states’ reactionary legislation, anti-LGBTQ+ attacks, anti-Jewish rhetoric and backlash to Black civil rights gains did not start with Donald Trump, and it will not end with him either. To combat this wave of reaction it will take all of us who are assailed by right-wing extremism, banding together to fight back. This means organizing in our unions, social groups, schools and work places to support a multi-issue (intersectional) program of mutual solidarity with all those under attack.”
