Who is afraid of these "moms"?
(New York) In early June, Moms for Liberty, a group of parents of students, was labeled "extremist" by an organization that lists hate and extremist groups in the United States.
In mid-June, the Indiana branch of Moms for Liberty stirred controversy by quoting a statement attributed to Adolf Hitler in its newsletter.
In late June, the national organization attracted five Republican Party presidential candidates, not the least, to its second annual "summit," held in Philadelphia.
Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley take the opportunity to shower its members with praise.
Clearly, Moms for Liberty evokes diametrically opposed feelings. Founded in Florida to protest the wearing of masks in schools, the organization has become in two and a half years an indispensable force within the American right, with more than 250 branches in 45 states and more than 110,000 members.
With the threat of COVID-19 largely gone, Moms for Liberty is now dedicated to fighting another peril: woke indoctrination.
As part of this battle, the organization supports candidates in school board elections and opposes the inclusion of certain topics in the classroom, including sexual orientation and gender identity. She also calls for the removal of books on sexuality or racism from schools and campaigns for bills to ban minors from gender transitional care.
By labeling Moms for Liberty as "extremist" in its annual report, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) notes that this organization is not the first to mobilize conservatives by invoking "parental rights" and "family values."
"Similar rallying cries were echoed by those who opposed school desegregation during the civil rights movement and by the Moral Majority of the 1980s," said Susan Corke, SPLC director.
Moms for Liberty's activities make it clear that the group's main goals are to fuel right-wing hysteria and make the world less comfortable or safe for some students — mostly those who are black, LGBTQ or from LGBTQ families.
Susan Corke, directrice du Southern Poverty Law Center
Two of the three founders of Moms for Liberty, Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, responded to the SPLC's designation in a written statement. "Two-thirds of Americans think the public education system is on the wrong track. That's why our organization is dedicated to empowering parents to participate in their children's education in public schools," they said.
Objective: censorshipAccording to polls, most Americans, including nearly half of Republicans, oppose one of Moms for Liberty's most important activities: censorship of books in schools.
Activities that are continuous. Last week, the organization forced the removal of five books deemed pornographic from the libraries of the Leon County School Board in Florida. One of the books, titled Lucky, is novelist Alice Sebold's autobiographical account of how her rape at age 18 transformed her life.
The Leon County School Board had already attracted attention after the removal of an illustrated children's book entitled I Am Billie Jean King, where the pioneer of women's tennis evokes in passing her homosexuality. The book is reviewed after a parent has challenged.
In Florida, these challenges and book bans stem from a law signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis. In his speech at the annual Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia, the presidential candidate said he saw criticism targeting the organization as "a sign that we are winning this battle."
"Moms for Liberty is not a hate group," Trump said in the same place.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump at the annual Moms for Liberty Summit in Philadelphia on June 30
You [Moms for Liberty] are the best thing that ever happened to America.
Far-right ideologues and conspiracy theorists were on the list of speakers in Philadelphia. They included lawyer KrisAnne Hall, a member of the anti-government Oath Keepers militia and the white nationalist group League of the South, and author James Lindsay, a conspiracy theorist who claims that the United States is threatened by a "Maoist cultural revolution" orchestrated by senior officials in the federal government and elitist institutions.
Never apologizeIn one of the workshops held during the summit, Christian Ziegler, chairman of the Florida Republican Party, lamented the apology made by the Indiana branch of Moms for Liberty after the statement attributed to Hitler was posted on its Facebook page: "Only he who possesses youth wins the future."
"You should never apologize. Never," he told participants at the media relations workshop. "That's my view. Other people have different views on the matter. I think apologizing makes you weak. »
Ziegler is married to Moms for Liberty's other founder, Bridget Ziegler, who celebrated her election to the Sarasota County School Board in the presence of members of the neo-fascist group Proud Boys. He summed up his message to workshop attendees as follows, according to a researcher from the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute:
"Your product is parental rights. Your product is protecting children and eliminating child indoctrination and sexualization. You are the base. You are on the ground. You are the mothers, the grandparents, the families who are affected. The stories you tell help build a narrative. »
In mid-June, the Indiana branch of Moms for Liberty stirred controversy by quoting a statement attributed to Adolf Hitler in its newsletter.
In late June, the national organization attracted five Republican Party presidential candidates, not the least, to its second annual "summit," held in Philadelphia.
Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley take the opportunity to shower its members with praise.
Clearly, Moms for Liberty evokes diametrically opposed feelings. Founded in Florida to protest the wearing of masks in schools, the organization has become in two and a half years an indispensable force within the American right, with more than 250 branches in 45 states and more than 110,000 members.
With the threat of COVID-19 largely gone, Moms for Liberty is now dedicated to fighting another peril: woke indoctrination.
As part of this battle, the organization supports candidates in school board elections and opposes the inclusion of certain topics in the classroom, including sexual orientation and gender identity. She also calls for the removal of books on sexuality or racism from schools and campaigns for bills to ban minors from gender transitional care.
By labeling Moms for Liberty as "extremist" in its annual report, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) notes that this organization is not the first to mobilize conservatives by invoking "parental rights" and "family values."
"Similar rallying cries were echoed by those who opposed school desegregation during the civil rights movement and by the Moral Majority of the 1980s," said Susan Corke, SPLC director.
Moms for Liberty's activities make it clear that the group's main goals are to fuel right-wing hysteria and make the world less comfortable or safe for some students — mostly those who are black, LGBTQ or from LGBTQ families.
Susan Corke, directrice du Southern Poverty Law Center
Two of the three founders of Moms for Liberty, Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, responded to the SPLC's designation in a written statement. "Two-thirds of Americans think the public education system is on the wrong track. That's why our organization is dedicated to empowering parents to participate in their children's education in public schools," they said.
Objective: censorshipAccording to polls, most Americans, including nearly half of Republicans, oppose one of Moms for Liberty's most important activities: censorship of books in schools.
Activities that are continuous. Last week, the organization forced the removal of five books deemed pornographic from the libraries of the Leon County School Board in Florida. One of the books, titled Lucky, is novelist Alice Sebold's autobiographical account of how her rape at age 18 transformed her life.
The Leon County School Board had already attracted attention after the removal of an illustrated children's book entitled I Am Billie Jean King, where the pioneer of women's tennis evokes in passing her homosexuality. The book is reviewed after a parent has challenged.
In Florida, these challenges and book bans stem from a law signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis. In his speech at the annual Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia, the presidential candidate said he saw criticism targeting the organization as "a sign that we are winning this battle."
"Moms for Liberty is not a hate group," Trump said in the same place.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump at the annual Moms for Liberty Summit in Philadelphia on June 30
You [Moms for Liberty] are the best thing that ever happened to America.
Far-right ideologues and conspiracy theorists were on the list of speakers in Philadelphia. They included lawyer KrisAnne Hall, a member of the anti-government Oath Keepers militia and the white nationalist group League of the South, and author James Lindsay, a conspiracy theorist who claims that the United States is threatened by a "Maoist cultural revolution" orchestrated by senior officials in the federal government and elitist institutions.
Never apologizeIn one of the workshops held during the summit, Christian Ziegler, chairman of the Florida Republican Party, lamented the apology made by the Indiana branch of Moms for Liberty after the statement attributed to Hitler was posted on its Facebook page: "Only he who possesses youth wins the future."
"You should never apologize. Never," he told participants at the media relations workshop. "That's my view. Other people have different views on the matter. I think apologizing makes you weak. »
Ziegler is married to Moms for Liberty's other founder, Bridget Ziegler, who celebrated her election to the Sarasota County School Board in the presence of members of the neo-fascist group Proud Boys. He summed up his message to workshop attendees as follows, according to a researcher from the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute:
"Your product is parental rights. Your product is protecting children and eliminating child indoctrination and sexualization. You are the base. You are on the ground. You are the mothers, the grandparents, the families who are affected. The stories you tell help build a narrative. »