A socialist professor rails on Ron DeSantis and his "fascist lieutenants" running New College at the Socialism Conference.
Erik Wallenberg definitely isn't bitter about losing his job at New College.
From September 1-3, I went undercover at the largest socialist conference in the country, Socialism 2023. In this series, I’ll show you what the real Marxist left talks about when they think we aren’t listening.
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In my last update from the Socialism Conference 2023, I told you about the idea of fugitive pedagogy, a central theme of education sessions at the conference. This is the idea of “smuggling” ideas into classrooms after they have been banned by state law to continue to indoctrinate children into a far-left political ideology.
One person advocating for fugitive pedagogy (in Florida specifically) is Erik Wallenberg, a former professor at New College in Florida who was fired after Ron DeSantis added several conservatives to the Board of Trustees with the charge of remaking the college into a classical education.
Here is the clip from the last article, where Erik encourages teachers to engage in fugitive pedagogy, in case you missed it.
And then, we’re going to learn more about our friend Erik.
Let’s learn more about Erik and what he had to say at the Socialism Conference.
Erik Wallenberg has been a vocal opponent of the change in direction at New College ever since it started, even appearing in such publications as Teen Vogue complaining about it.
Of course, Erik never mentioned that he was a socialist in those publications. But posts on his Facebook page tell the story. Erik has been a socialist since at least 2016 (but probably a lot longer if we’re honest).
And there’s no better proof of that than Erik being a speaker to a packed house at the 2023 Socialism Conference:
Let’s listen to Erik introduce himself at the conference:
Erik jumped right into a rant about how Ron DeSantis’s racist attacks on education and his fascist policies were responsible for a shooter in Jacksonville.
“DeSantis may not have pulled the trigger, but his brand of white nationalism stoked the hatred and laid the groundwork for this racist attack”
In this clip, Erik discusses being driven out of his job by “Ron DeSantis’s fascist minions,” but what caught my attention was that he characterized New College as:
“…this outpost of progressive, radical education”
Radical means socialist. Anytime you hear someone say radical in relation to culture or politics, they are likely a socialist. That’s one of the slang terms they use to refer to far-left ideas.
Then, Erik begins to name the minions specifically, calling them the “shock troops of fascism” and “Ron DeSantis’s fascists lieutenants.” One of the people he named was Christopher Rufo:
Of course, anything that hinders the advancement of socialism is considered to be “dirty word” by the far left.
This clip might seem subtle, but it emphasizes two important points about socialists:
Socialists and liberals are not the same thing. Socialists HATE liberals because they perceive them as rolling over to uphold a fascist (capitalist) agenda.
Erik is not a liberal. He views liberals as useful idiots that he can use to advance his own political ideology.
“But the other issue is we do have to figure out how to move the liberals into action, right? We do actually have to do that work because they won’t. And we need much bigger numbers to actually attack this thing.”
Erik then starts to lay out a series of wins for Ron DeSantis, Christopher Rufo and company. Apparently, 40% of the socialist faculty have left after the President and the board removed key figures at the college:
Recruitment at New College seems to be at an all-time high, with 300 new students coming into a campus of 700 students. Erik notes that in one more year, new students will outnumber pre-takeover students.
And if you listen very closely, you’ll hear an audience member shout “and they’re all fascists,” before Erik cuts her off to say “I’m not saying they’re all fascists.”
Erik also notes the remaining faculty are not giving up without a fight. They are going. to be proactively reaching out to new students to see how many they can bring into their cult of socialism:
“A lot of faculty and students are trying to figure out how do we reach out to these students and introduce them into what New College has been”
Finally, Erik notes that what happened at New College will be exported and will happen at different colleges.
God, I hope he’s right.
Want to listen to the full Fighting Fascism in Florida session from the Socialism Conference?
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