The F Word

Recorded today (11 June): Morning Tinto podcast, episode 13

Author

Chris Musei-Sequeira
June 11, 2025

This photograph shows a crowd of people in the foreground, mostly facing toward the right of the image, with one woman looking toward the camera. Several people hold signs with wording such as "STAND WITH STANDING ROCK", "NO DAPL", and "Water is life." In the background is a white building with several prominent vertical columns and a dome at the top. AUTHOR FROM SOURCE: Rob87438 on Wikimedia Commons. DESCRIPTION FROM SOURCE: "Beyond NoDAPL March on Washington, DC." SOURCE: File:Stand with Standing Rock - No DAPL - Water is Life signs - by a Smithsonian Museum.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (2016, December 8). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stand_with_Standing_Rock_-_No_DAPL_-_Water_is_Life_signs_-_by_a_Smithsonian_Museum.jpg. Produced by Rob87438 and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Add [email protected] to your address book so you don’t miss any newsletter issues!

TUESDAY, June 17 online event: How to Talk About Gaps in Your Resume
CLICK HERE to learn more and register!

Let’s talk about the F word yet again.

Yes, you know that dirty little word… fascism. What’s it mean, exactly? Or… do we even need a strict definition of such a word?

Morning Tinto Episode 13: The F Word

Recorded today, my friend Heather Luna of keduzi and I discuss the varied definitions of “fascism” as well as whether rigid definitions of that word are necessary. What people are using those words, and in what contexts? How are those contexts similar to and different from the historical context in which Benito Mussolini rose to power?

Heather shares various definitions of “fascism” that she encountered through the Fascism Barometer podcast. Chris talks at length about the term “fascism” not as a strict term of art but rather as a lens that people can look through to gain new insights about the world of today. Both Chris and Heather talk about the importance of engaging with current events by understanding actual impacts on people.

Take a listen and tell us what you think!

Previous Morning Tinto recordings

  • Episode 1: The Trump Administration and DEI (23 minutes and 59 seconds)

  • Episode 2: Do not obey in advance. (21 minutes and 16 seconds)

  • Episode 3: An illiberal intervention (23 minutes and 7 seconds)

  • Episode 4: Who Are “We, the People”? (19 minutes and 22 seconds)

  • Episode 5: Off the spectrum? (32 minutes and 1 second)

  • Episode 6: The mask is off (28 minutes and 58 seconds)

  • Episode 7: Meeting each other’s needs (33 minutes and 18 seconds)

  • Episode 8: Survival and community (27 minutes and 6 seconds)

  • Episode 9: Being relational in resistance (31 minutes and 52 seconds)

  • Episode 10: Is hoping waiting? (32 minutes and 29 seconds)

  • Episode 11: Do Human Rights Matter? (30 minutes and 14 seconds)

  • Episode 12: Touching Grass (25 minutes and 33 seconds)

Where to find the perspectives you’ve been missing

FIRST: Subscribe to the Morning Tinto podcast, where my friend Heather Luna and I use the lenses of oppression and resistance to talk about events that happen right before recording.

SECOND: Subscribe to our professional offers-and-needs networking events announcement list. Heather and I regularly host FREE online events where professionals can offer help (free or paid) and ask other professionals to meet their needs.

THIRD: Follow these awesome folks on LinkedIn:

FOURTH: Forward this issue to people you know who are doing decolonial and anti-oppression work.

Got something to say to me?

Hit the “reply” button and give me a piece of your mind.

Image source: File:Stand with Standing Rock - No DAPL - Water is Life signs - by a Smithsonian Museum.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (2016, December 8). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stand_with_Standing_Rock_-_No_DAPL_-_Water_is_Life_signs_-_by_a_Smithsonian_Museum.jpg. Produced by Rob87438 and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Did someone send you this issue? Subscribe now to receive future newsletters like this.

Know someone who needs to see this issue? Hit the “Forward” button in your email app and send this to them.

My name is Chris Musei-Sequeira, and I use he/him pronouns. My mother was born in Trinidad and Tobago as a descendant of African slaves brought to the islands during the time of European colonization. She came to the United States of America (USA) at the age of 10. My father is Goan and was born in India, in Mumbai, and raised Catholic and English-speaking. He came to the USA for his graduate studies, where he met my mother.

My sister and I were born in the USA and lived a middle-class life in the suburbs of multiple American cities. I studied aeronautical engineering and technology policy in university, then worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an aviation consultant. I've lived in cities up and down the USA East Coast since the age of 18; I now reside in Queens, New York with my wife.

I thank Heather Luna and Lavinia Muth for showing me the importance of publicly expressing our positions. Because of our positions, all of us are very familiar with some aspects of the world while having no idea of other aspects. Positionality expresses how our individual positions affect our relationships with other people and with the world as a whole.