Fascism can even happen in America
By Jaime O'Neill
Saturday, May 07, 2005 - My dad and my uncles were members of that generation called the "greatest generation." They went off to fight fascism, and they beat it back, stopped Hitler, Franco, and Mussolini. Those fascist states were dismantled, but totalitarianism rose again in the Soviet Union, our ally against fascism. For a time, though, fascism was mostly dormant in the world, except for places like Pinochet's Chile, and Suharto's Indonesia, regimes we, to our shame, supported, just as we've supported the fascist regime in Saudi Arabia because some policy makers saw that support, short-sightedly, to be in our national interest.
But fascism is like a virus. It recurs. It spreads. It can strike anywhere, maybe even here in the land that did so much to fight against fascism. An article, first published in Free Inquiry magazine, has been making its way around the Internet. Perhaps you've seen it. In that article, a political scientist, Dr. Lawrence Britt, discusses a study he made of fascist regimes, and the 14 presenting symptoms of the virus of fascism he found. Those symptoms are:
Powerful and continuing nationalism. Under fascism, the use of patriotic symbols - flags, slogans, mottos - are seen and heard everywhere.
Disdain for human rights. Fascist regimes employ fear of enemies to justify the necessity of stripping citizens of civil rights, and to justify the use of long incarcerations without trial, and even torture.
Using enemies as scapegoats. The people are rallied by the need to eliminate a perceived common threat - an ethnic or religious minority, liberals, communists, socialists, or terrorists.
Supremacy of the military. Under fascist governments, the military rules supreme while domestic needs are increasingly neglected.
Rampant sexism. Fascist governments are almost exclusively male-dominated. Traditional gender roles are made more rigid. The state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family.
Controlled mass media. Censorship becomes common, and the media are controlled or actively manipulated.
Obsession with national security. The people are kept in a constant state of fear.
Religion and government are interlocked. Religious rhetoric is commonly used by political leaders to bolster their aims.
Corporate power is protected. There is a mutually beneficial relationship between corporations and the politicians they put in power.
Labor power is suppressed. Because the organizing power of unions is the primary threat to fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated, or severely suppressed.
Disdain for intellectuals, hostility to the arts. Fascist leaders actively encourage hostility to higher education and the academic world.
Obsession with crime and punishment. Under fascist regimes, police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws.
Rampant cronyism and corruption. Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint one another to government positions and use government power and authority to protect their friends from accountability.
Fraudulent elections. Elections in fascist nations are often a complete sham. Other elections are manipulated by smear campaigns, or media manipulation. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control the outcome of elections.
***
That list is pretty scary. Too much of what is on that list seems like what I've seen happening to my own country over the past several years. Too much of what is on that list seems to describe the drift we are taking away from the best things we are toward the worst things we might become. I'm understating the case here. In my view, we have already caught this virus, and we are, as a nation, getting sicker with it each day. I saw the sickness at last year's Republican Convention, in the face of Dick Cheney (cronyism and corruption), and in the hate-filled speech of Democrat Zell Miller, in his appeals to fear, religion, and militarism. I see it now in the hypocritical use of religion by men like Bill Frist and Tom DeLay, appealing to the worst elements in the evangelical movement in order to foster intolerance
I see it now, almost any day I turn on the TV to find some administration spokesperson standing in front of a tableau of patriotic symbols - flags, and eagles, and slogans - so that whatever proposal they're pushing comes wrapped in that persuasive package. I see the rise of fascism in the distortion of language, in the constant manipulations that create big lies. I see the disease most especially in all the studied attempts to hide the darker side of the administration's agenda from the public, all the media orchestration designed to make the Republican party look more moderate than it is, the rigorous intent to superimpose the "kinder and gentler" face of Laura Bush over the meaner fascistic face of Tom DeLay.
I see the rise of fascism made more likely by the steep erosion in trade union membership, shrunk now to less than 9 percent of the private workforce as more and more jobs are exported overseas, overtime pay comes under attack, and the gap between rich and poor grows wider with each new day.
I see the rise of fascism at Guantanamo, and at Abu Ghraib prison. I see the disease of fascism in the Fox-ification of our news media, the disinclination of our journalists to ask hard questions of politicians, government officials, and corporate execs. I see the exploitation of the very real fear of terrorism to advance partisan agendas, and to slacken the scrutiny of government contracts. A few months ago, I knelt over my father's grave back in Illinois, silently thanking him for more than words could say, more than I could ever surely know. I thank him now, in poor words, for fighting to preserve democracy, for fighting against fascism. My dad, a veteran and a lifelong union man - I wish he were here now to help continue the fight.
***
Jaime O'Neill is a Butte College instructor and author of What Do You Know? and other books.
http://www.paradisepost.com/cda/article/pr...2857318,00.html
Full Version: Fascism can even happen in America
Common Ground Common Sense > National & International News > Op-Ed Articles from the Mainstream Media > Op-Ed Articles from the Mainstream Media Archive
Anybody who does not see America becoming increasingly fascist everyday has got to have blinders on his or her eyes.
In fact, many believe it is too late to prevent it from occurring completely.
Does anybody on this list think it can be prevented? And if so, HOW? Because that is one of the main things this list should be about. But I've seen little said about it. Maybe it is buried someplace. But it should be continuously commented upon with the best ideas from the members. I confess, I don't have any good ideas of my own. I am working on it but the task seems to daunting. But if something isn't done, kiss the America you love goodbye.
In fact, many believe it is too late to prevent it from occurring completely.
Does anybody on this list think it can be prevented? And if so, HOW? Because that is one of the main things this list should be about. But I've seen little said about it. Maybe it is buried someplace. But it should be continuously commented upon with the best ideas from the members. I confess, I don't have any good ideas of my own. I am working on it but the task seems to daunting. But if something isn't done, kiss the America you love goodbye.
The only way it can be prevented is by those who have been apathetic and those who voted for the representatives they really don't support (they did so because they were offended at the democrats "anti religion" statements - not the candidates, the other voters) to make a pro religion statement, wake up and do something about it. This must be done by (if not at) the mid-term elections. The quiet bystanders who think we're playing henny penny have got to realize how far to the extreme we've gone and their complicity in the rise of fascism if we don't start recall elections/impeachments and voting people out.
I don't believe what I just read! Is anyone here reading this?
**************************************************
In that article, a political scientist, Dr. Lawrence Britt, discusses a study he made of fascist regimes, and the 14 presenting symptoms of the virus of fascism he found. Those symptoms are:
Powerful and continuing nationalism. Under fascism, the use of patriotic symbols - flags, slogans, mottos - are seen and heard everywhere.
Disdain for human rights. Fascist regimes employ fear of enemies to justify the necessity of stripping citizens of civil rights, and to justify the use of long incarcerations without trial, and even torture.
Using enemies as scapegoats. The people are rallied by the need to eliminate a perceived common threat - an ethnic or religious minority, liberals, communists, socialists, or terrorists.
Supremacy of the military. Under fascist governments, the military rules supreme while domestic needs are increasingly neglected.
Rampant sexism. Fascist governments are almost exclusively male-dominated. Traditional gender roles are made more rigid. The state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family.
Controlled mass media. Censorship becomes common, and the media are controlled or actively manipulated.
Obsession with national security. The people are kept in a constant state of fear.
Religion and government are interlocked. Religious rhetoric is commonly used by political leaders to bolster their aims.
Corporate power is protected. There is a mutually beneficial relationship between corporations and the politicians they put in power.
Labor power is suppressed. Because the organizing power of unions is the primary threat to fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated, or severely suppressed.
Disdain for intellectuals, hostility to the arts. Fascist leaders actively encourage hostility to higher education and the academic world.
Obsession with crime and punishment. Under fascist regimes, police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws.
Rampant cronyism and corruption. Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint one another to government positions and use government power and authority to protect their friends from accountability.
Fraudulent elections. Elections in fascist nations are often a complete sham. Other elections are manipulated by smear campaigns, or media manipulation. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control the outcome of elections.
**************************************************
In that article, a political scientist, Dr. Lawrence Britt, discusses a study he made of fascist regimes, and the 14 presenting symptoms of the virus of fascism he found. Those symptoms are:
Powerful and continuing nationalism. Under fascism, the use of patriotic symbols - flags, slogans, mottos - are seen and heard everywhere.
Disdain for human rights. Fascist regimes employ fear of enemies to justify the necessity of stripping citizens of civil rights, and to justify the use of long incarcerations without trial, and even torture.
Using enemies as scapegoats. The people are rallied by the need to eliminate a perceived common threat - an ethnic or religious minority, liberals, communists, socialists, or terrorists.
Supremacy of the military. Under fascist governments, the military rules supreme while domestic needs are increasingly neglected.
Rampant sexism. Fascist governments are almost exclusively male-dominated. Traditional gender roles are made more rigid. The state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family.
Controlled mass media. Censorship becomes common, and the media are controlled or actively manipulated.
Obsession with national security. The people are kept in a constant state of fear.
Religion and government are interlocked. Religious rhetoric is commonly used by political leaders to bolster their aims.
Corporate power is protected. There is a mutually beneficial relationship between corporations and the politicians they put in power.
Labor power is suppressed. Because the organizing power of unions is the primary threat to fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated, or severely suppressed.
Disdain for intellectuals, hostility to the arts. Fascist leaders actively encourage hostility to higher education and the academic world.
Obsession with crime and punishment. Under fascist regimes, police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws.
Rampant cronyism and corruption. Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint one another to government positions and use government power and authority to protect their friends from accountability.
Fraudulent elections. Elections in fascist nations are often a complete sham. Other elections are manipulated by smear campaigns, or media manipulation. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control the outcome of elections.
QUOTE(kindergarten teacher @ May 8 2005, 10:24 AM)
I don't believe what I just read! Is anyone here reading this?
**************************************************
In that article, a political scientist, Dr. Lawrence Britt, discusses a study he made of fascist regimes, and the 14 presenting symptoms of the virus of fascism he found. Those symptoms are:
Powerful and continuing nationalism. Under fascism, the use of patriotic symbols - flags, slogans, mottos - are seen and heard everywhere.
Disdain for human rights. Fascist regimes employ fear of enemies to justify the necessity of stripping citizens of civil rights, and to justify the use of long incarcerations without trial, and even torture.
Using enemies as scapegoats. The people are rallied by the need to eliminate a perceived common threat - an ethnic or religious minority, liberals, communists, socialists, or terrorists.
Supremacy of the military. Under fascist governments, the military rules supreme while domestic needs are increasingly neglected.
Rampant sexism. Fascist governments are almost exclusively male-dominated. Traditional gender roles are made more rigid. The state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family.
Controlled mass media. Censorship becomes common, and the media are controlled or actively manipulated.
Obsession with national security. The people are kept in a constant state of fear.
Religion and government are interlocked. Religious rhetoric is commonly used by political leaders to bolster their aims.
Corporate power is protected. There is a mutually beneficial relationship between corporations and the politicians they put in power.
Labor power is suppressed. Because the organizing power of unions is the primary threat to fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated, or severely suppressed.
Disdain for intellectuals, hostility to the arts. Fascist leaders actively encourage hostility to higher education and the academic world.
Obsession with crime and punishment. Under fascist regimes, police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws.
Rampant cronyism and corruption. Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint one another to government positions and use government power and authority to protect their friends from accountability.
Fraudulent elections. Elections in fascist nations are often a complete sham. Other elections are manipulated by smear campaigns, or media manipulation. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control the outcome of elections.
**************************************************
In that article, a political scientist, Dr. Lawrence Britt, discusses a study he made of fascist regimes, and the 14 presenting symptoms of the virus of fascism he found. Those symptoms are:
Powerful and continuing nationalism. Under fascism, the use of patriotic symbols - flags, slogans, mottos - are seen and heard everywhere.
Disdain for human rights. Fascist regimes employ fear of enemies to justify the necessity of stripping citizens of civil rights, and to justify the use of long incarcerations without trial, and even torture.
Using enemies as scapegoats. The people are rallied by the need to eliminate a perceived common threat - an ethnic or religious minority, liberals, communists, socialists, or terrorists.
Supremacy of the military. Under fascist governments, the military rules supreme while domestic needs are increasingly neglected.
Rampant sexism. Fascist governments are almost exclusively male-dominated. Traditional gender roles are made more rigid. The state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family.
Controlled mass media. Censorship becomes common, and the media are controlled or actively manipulated.
Obsession with national security. The people are kept in a constant state of fear.
Religion and government are interlocked. Religious rhetoric is commonly used by political leaders to bolster their aims.
Corporate power is protected. There is a mutually beneficial relationship between corporations and the politicians they put in power.
Labor power is suppressed. Because the organizing power of unions is the primary threat to fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated, or severely suppressed.
Disdain for intellectuals, hostility to the arts. Fascist leaders actively encourage hostility to higher education and the academic world.
Obsession with crime and punishment. Under fascist regimes, police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws.
Rampant cronyism and corruption. Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint one another to government positions and use government power and authority to protect their friends from accountability.
Fraudulent elections. Elections in fascist nations are often a complete sham. Other elections are manipulated by smear campaigns, or media manipulation. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control the outcome of elections.
Fits U.S. to a T, doesn't it?
Shrubbland uber alles
Bush 14 points...
Bush Blackshirts
Fascism Anyone?
we need to elect people to congress who are more committed to Democracy
who have the courage to stand up to the big corporations and the religious fundamentalists who vote their henchmen into office.
who have the courage to stand up to the big corporations and the religious fundamentalists who vote their henchmen into office.
QUOTE(rla @ May 8 2005, 10:36 AM)
we need to elect people to congress who are more committed to Democracy
who have the courage to stand up to the big corporations and the religious fundamentalists who vote their henchmen into office.
who have the courage to stand up to the big corporations and the religious fundamentalists who vote their henchmen into office.
We've got a lot of work to do...
QUOTE(r_welser @ May 8 2005, 07:21 AM)
Anybody who does not see America becoming increasingly fascist everyday has got to have blinders on his or her eyes.
In fact, many believe it is too late to prevent it from occurring completely.
Does anybody on this list think it can be prevented? And if so, HOW? Because that is one of the main things this list should be about. But I've seen little said about it. Maybe it is buried someplace. But it should be continuously commented upon with the best ideas from the members. I confess, I don't have any good ideas of my own. I am working on it but the task seems to daunting. But if something isn't done, kiss the America you love goodbye.
In fact, many believe it is too late to prevent it from occurring completely.
Does anybody on this list think it can be prevented? And if so, HOW? Because that is one of the main things this list should be about. But I've seen little said about it. Maybe it is buried someplace. But it should be continuously commented upon with the best ideas from the members. I confess, I don't have any good ideas of my own. I am working on it but the task seems to daunting. But if something isn't done, kiss the America you love goodbye.
We must use the Internet - the electronic version of Paul Revere to warn our fellow countrymen that we are under attack and the attack is from within.
Hunker down to the struggle we now face. Stop being a mindless consumer. ONLY buy what is absolutely necessary and nothing more. If you must buy - Buy Blue
Check out the forum subgroup for your state and get active in your local activist organizations...
Come on everyone in this form - Where is the FYI list to help us organize?
Here is my contribution-
http://members.cox.net/derfledermaus/
A very poignant original post. Too few of the "Greatest Generation" left to give us a pointer.
I agree it must start with:
- working on a local level, whatever you can do to help
- buying blue, do not underestimate the power of the pocketbook
- be active via signing petitions and making contributions over the net
- spreading the word via the net or, better yet, do not be afraid to speak out face-to-face !
In the current climate there is nothing golden about silence !
I agree it must start with:
- working on a local level, whatever you can do to help
- buying blue, do not underestimate the power of the pocketbook
- be active via signing petitions and making contributions over the net
- spreading the word via the net or, better yet, do not be afraid to speak out face-to-face !
In the current climate there is nothing golden about silence !
One thing is for sure, If we as a nation survive this, people on the Right and the Left will know first hand what a fascist regeme really looks like up close and personal!
It's probably no coincidence that it is happening as the greatest generation is leaving us en mass. My mother while she was dying got riled enough to clench her fists at what she saw! It is our generations battle now. Who would've thunk it? That we Baby Boomers, the "Hippy" Generation, the Pepsi Generation would have let it come to this?
We sold out, and forgot our values of Love, Peace, and Social Justice (or put them away in mothballs). We thought those battles had been won! Well, We may HAVE won those battles, but we could easily lose the War we didn't see going on in the shadows!
It's probably no coincidence that it is happening as the greatest generation is leaving us en mass. My mother while she was dying got riled enough to clench her fists at what she saw! It is our generations battle now. Who would've thunk it? That we Baby Boomers, the "Hippy" Generation, the Pepsi Generation would have let it come to this?
We sold out, and forgot our values of Love, Peace, and Social Justice (or put them away in mothballs). We thought those battles had been won! Well, We may HAVE won those battles, but we could easily lose the War we didn't see going on in the shadows!
America in 2005: Congress is working on bills to discourage fake news and a headline that states "Democrats Voted Out of Baptist Church," stirs little outrage except among Democrats. :no:
A member of that greatest generation lives near me. He landed at Normandy and fought on through Germany, where he earned a purple heart.
He is the first person I ever heard say that W is like Hitler.
He is the first person I ever heard say that W is like Hitler.
Please invite him to speak with us...
Operation Paperclip killed America Nov. 22, 1963. Research it and tell me I'm wrong. But the people can always resurrect a country, but remember, the moral of the story is: when you become the enemy, they've already won.
QUOTE(Morambar in TX @ May 8 2005, 08:14 PM)
Operation Paperclip killed America Nov. 22, 1963. Research it and tell me I'm wrong. But the people can always resurrect a country, but remember, the moral of the story is: when you become the enemy, they've already won.
Morambar, are you saying that they have already won ?Is there no hope ?
QUOTE(TheRestofUs @ May 8 2005, 07:28 PM)
......We sold out, and forgot our values of Love, Peace, and Social Justice (or put them away in mothballs). We thought those battles had been won! Well, We may HAVE won those battles, but we could easily lose the War we didn't see going on in the shadows!
Well put. We have been resting on our laurels- shame on us.
QUOTE(wundermaus @ May 8 2005, 09:35 AM)
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm
wundermaus, this is a page I hope everyone clicks. The pictures and graphics are worth doing so and it loads quickly.
We have our work cut out now. Spread the word!
KT
QUOTE(Pie @ May 8 2005, 06:30 PM)
Morambar, are you saying that they have already won ?
Is there no hope ?
Is there no hope ?
I'm just saying there in control. They were in control until 20 January, 1961, too. And then they weren't. They got it back 20 January, 1969. And then they lost it for four years, and October Surprised it back. The Clinton era was a holding action; and then the election thing happened. If we don't protect/verify our elections, and soon, then yes, they've probably won and I'll spend any time I'm not using to survive preaching the gospel while there's time, because politics will be a waste of that precious commodity at an ever increasing premium.
Of course, there's always American Revolution II, but a lot of that will depend on which way the Army goes, and given the indoctrination, things will have to get pretty bad before they go our way. It's pretty sad when I have to start analyzing America like a third world country, but there's a reason for that.
QUOTE(Cloudy @ May 8 2005, 05:42 PM)
A member of that greatest generation lives near me. He landed at Normandy and fought on through Germany, where he earned a purple heart.
He is the first person I ever heard say that W is like Hitler.
He is the first person I ever heard say that W is like Hitler.
I know a "member of the greatest generation" with a similar history. He is worried about this administration and compares it to a fascist regime. He also believes that Bush wants to be president for life--I didnt take that seriously until I heard Bob Woodward say not to rule out Cheney for Pres in 2008. A Cheney win would mean 4-8 more years of the same--since Cheney is likely the one running the WH today.
"We had grasped the great truth that it was not rifles, nor tanks, and not atom bombs that created power, nor upon them that power rested. Power depended upon public obedience. upon a willingness to submit. Therefore each individual who refused to submit to force reduced that force by 1/250,000,000th of its sum. We had been schooled by our participation in the civil-rights movement, we had received an excellent education in the camps, and we know of the implacable force of one man's refusal to submit. The authorities knew it too. They had long since abandoned any idea of basing their calculations on Communist dogma. They no longer demanded of people a belief in the radiant future -- all they needed was submission. And when they tried to starve it into us in the prison camps, or threw us into punishment cells to rot, they were not demanding a belief in communism but simply submission, or at least a willingness to compromise."
Vladimir Bukovsky, speaking of political prisoners in Soviet Russia who engaged in hunger strikes and other actions while imprisoned at Lefortovo prison, Vladimir prison, and in forced labor camps. Taken from his book To Build A Castle-- My Life as a Dissenter, Viking Press, 1979.
Vladimir Bukovsky, speaking of political prisoners in Soviet Russia who engaged in hunger strikes and other actions while imprisoned at Lefortovo prison, Vladimir prison, and in forced labor camps. Taken from his book To Build A Castle-- My Life as a Dissenter, Viking Press, 1979.
QUOTE(Magmak1 @ May 16 2005, 01:02 PM)
"And when they tried to starve it into us in the prison camps, or threw us into punishment cells to rot, they were not demanding a belief in communism but simply submission, or at least a willingness to compromise."
Vladimir Bukovsky, speaking of political prisoners in Soviet Russia who engaged in hunger strikes and other actions while imprisoned at Lefortovo prison, Vladimir prison, and in forced labor camps. Taken from his book To Build A Castle-- My Life as a Dissenter, Viking Press, 1979.
Vladimir Bukovsky, speaking of political prisoners in Soviet Russia who engaged in hunger strikes and other actions while imprisoned at Lefortovo prison, Vladimir prison, and in forced labor camps. Taken from his book To Build A Castle-- My Life as a Dissenter, Viking Press, 1979.
Does anyone doubt this is why they're winning? Good show, Senator Reid.
No, Pie, they haven't won; they can't win unless we surrender. They're not even really in control of anything permanent, just decaying mattter. In a hundred years, what will be the difference between myself and the Commander-In-Thief? None, if he repents; if not he can have whatever he can scrabble together for the next thirty years or so, and welcome to it, enjoy -- while you can. They can't "win" in any absolute sense; we can only lose. They can take anything and everything you have except your soul. You have to GIVE them that. My Leader really is bigger than their leader, for all they lie they follow the same One, and that means I can't lose and they've already lost unless they get on the winning team. For further elaboration, see below.
And good show Magmak, you come very near the kingdom of heaven. And maybe already there; if so, I can't really say what I think about THAT here, but I think you know. And if I seem disjointed, I've been reading the Book of the SubGenius again, which is very ironic, no?
Eternal Fascism:
Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt
By Umberto Eco
Writing in New York Review of Books, 22 June 1995, pp.12-15. Excerpted in Utne Reader, November-December 1995, pp. 57-59.
The following version follows the text and formatting of the Utne Reader article, and in addition, makes the first sentence of each numbered point a statement in bold type. Italics are in the original.
For the full article, consult the New York Review of Books, purchase the full article online; or purchase Eco's new collection of essays: Five Moral Pieces.
In spite of some fuzziness regarding the difference between various historical forms of fascism, I think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would like to call Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism. These features cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism. But it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it.
* * *
1. The first feature of Ur-Fascism is the cult of tradition.
Traditionalism is of course much older than fascism. Not only was it typical of counterrevolutionary Catholic thought after the French revolution, but is was born in the late Hellenistic era, as a reaction to classical Greek rationalism. In the Mediterranean basin, people of different religions (most of the faiths indulgently accepted by the Roman pantheon) started dreaming of a revelation received at the dawn of human history. This revelation, according to the traditionalist mystique, had remained for a long time concealed under the veil of forgotten languages -- in Egyptian hieroglyphs, in the Celtic runes, in the scrolls of the little-known religions of Asia.
This new culture had to be syncretistic. Syncretism is not only, as the dictionary says, "the combination of different forms of belief or practice;" such a combination must tolerate contradictions. Each of the original messages contains a sliver of wisdom, and although they seem to say different or incompatible things, they all are nevertheless alluding, allegorically, to the same primeval truth.
As a consequence, there can be no advancement of learning. Truth already has been spelled out once and for all, and we can only keep interpreting its obscure message.
If you browse in the shelves that, in American bookstores, are labeled New Age, you can find there even Saint Augustine, who, as far as I know, was not a fascist. But combining Saint Augustine and Stonehenge -- that is a symptom of Ur-Fascism.
2. Traditionalism implies the rejection of modernism.
Both Fascists and Nazis worshipped technology, while traditionalist thinkers usually reject it as a negation of traditional spiritual values. However, even though Nazism was proud of its industrial achievements, its praise of modernism was only the surface of an ideology based upon blood and earth (Blut und Boden). The rejection of the modern world was disguised as a rebuttal of the capitalistic way of life. The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.
3. Irrationalism also depends on the cult of action for action's sake.
Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation. Therefore culture is suspect insofar as it is identified with critical attitudes. Distrust of the intellectual world has always been a symptom of Ur-Fascism, from Hermann Goering's fondness for a phrase from a Hanns Johst play ("When I hear the word 'culture' I reach for my gun") to the frequent use of such expressions as "degenerate intellectuals," "eggheads," "effete snobs," and "universities are nests of reds." The official Fascist intellectuals were mainly engaged in attacking modern culture and the liberal intelligentsia for having betrayed traditional values.
4. The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism.
In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason.
5. Besides, disagreement is a sign of diversity.
Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.
6. Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration.
That is why one of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups. In our time, when the old "proletarians" are becoming petty bourgeois (and the lumpen are largely excluded from the political scene), the fascism of tomorrow will find its audience in this new majority.
7. To people who feel deprived of a clear social identity, Ur-Fascism says that their only privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same country.
This is the origin of nationalism. Besides, the only ones who can provide an identity to the nation are its enemies. Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve the plot is the appeal to xenophobia. But the plot must also come from the inside: Jews are usually the best target because they have the advantage of being at the same time inside and outside. In the United States, a prominent instance of the plot obsession is to be found in Pat Robertson's The New World Order, but, as we have recently seen, there are many others.
8. The followers must feel humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of their enemies.
When I was a boy I was taught to think of Englishmen as the five-meal people. They ate more frequently than the poor but sober Italians. Jews are rich and help each other through a secret web of mutual assistance. However, the followers of Ur-Fascism must also be convinced that they can overwhelm the enemies. Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak. Fascist governments are condemned to lose wars because they are constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of the enemy.
9. For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.
Thus pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. It is bad because life is permanent warfare. This, however, brings about an Armageddon complex. Since enemies have to be defeated, there must be a final battle, after which the movement will have control of the world. But such "final solutions" implies a further era of peace, a Golden Age, which contradicts the principle of permanent war. No fascist leader has ever succeeded in solving this predicament.
10. Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology, insofar as it is fundamentally aristocratic, and aristocratic and militaristic elitism cruelly implies contempt for the weak.
Ur-Fascism can only advocate a popular elitism. Every citizen belongs to the best people in the world, the members or the party are the best among the citizens, every citizen can (or ought to) become a member of the party. But there cannot be patricians without plebeians. In fact, the Leader, knowing that his power was not delegated to him democratically but was conquered by force, also knows that his force is based upon the weakness of the masses; they are so weak as to need and deserve a ruler.
11. In such a perspective everybody is educated to become a hero.
In every mythology the hero is an exceptional being, but in Ur-Fascist ideology heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death. It is not by chance that a motto of the Spanish Falangists was Viva la Muerte ("Long Live Death!"). In nonfascist societies, the lay public is told that death is unpleasant but must be faced with dignity; believers are told that it is the painful way to reach a supernatural happiness. By contrast, the Ur-Fascist hero craves heroic death, advertised as the best reward for a heroic life. The Ur-Fascist hero is impatient to die. In his impatience, he more frequently sends other people to death.
12. Since both permanent war and heroism are difficult games to play, the Ur-Fascist transfers his will to power to sexual matters.
This is the origin of machismo (which implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality). Since even sex is a difficult game to play, the Ur-Fascist hero tends to play with weapons -- doing so becomes an ersatz phallic exercise.
13. Ur-Fascism is based upon a selective populism, a qualitative populism, one might say.
In a democracy, the citizens have individual rights, but the citizens in their entirety have a political impact only from a quantitative point of view -- one follows the decisions of the majority. For Ur-Fascism, however, individuals as individuals have no rights, and the People is conceived as a quality, a monolithic entity expressing the Common Will. Since no large quantity of human beings can have a common will, the Leader pretends to be their interpreter. Having lost their power of delegation, citizens do not act; they are only called on to play the role of the People. Thus the People is only a theatrical fiction. There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.
Because of its qualitative populism, Ur-Fascism must be against "rotten" parliamentary governments. Wherever a politician casts doubt on the legitimacy of a parliament because it no longer represents the Voice of the People, we can smell Ur-Fascism.
14. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak.
Newspeak was invented by Orwell, in Nineteen Eighty-Four, as the official language of what he called Ingsoc, English Socialism. But elements of Ur-Fascism are common to different forms of dictatorship. All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning. But we must be ready to identify other kinds of Newspeak, even if they take the apparently innocent form of a popular talk show.
* * *
Ur-Fascism is still around us, sometimes in plainclothes. It would be so much easier for us if there appeared on the world scene somebody saying, "I want to reopen Auschwitz, I want the Blackshirts to parade again in the Italian squares." Life is not that simple. Ur-Fascism can come back under the most innocent of disguises. Our duty is to uncover it and to point our finger at any of its new instances — every day, in every part of the world. Franklin Roosevelt's words of November 4, 1938, are worth recalling: "If American democracy ceases to move forward as a living force, seeking day and night by peaceful means to better the lot of our citizens, fascism will grow in strength in our land." Freedom and liberation are an unending task.
Umberto Eco © 1995
Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt
By Umberto Eco
Writing in New York Review of Books, 22 June 1995, pp.12-15. Excerpted in Utne Reader, November-December 1995, pp. 57-59.
The following version follows the text and formatting of the Utne Reader article, and in addition, makes the first sentence of each numbered point a statement in bold type. Italics are in the original.
For the full article, consult the New York Review of Books, purchase the full article online; or purchase Eco's new collection of essays: Five Moral Pieces.
In spite of some fuzziness regarding the difference between various historical forms of fascism, I think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would like to call Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism. These features cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism. But it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it.
* * *
1. The first feature of Ur-Fascism is the cult of tradition.
Traditionalism is of course much older than fascism. Not only was it typical of counterrevolutionary Catholic thought after the French revolution, but is was born in the late Hellenistic era, as a reaction to classical Greek rationalism. In the Mediterranean basin, people of different religions (most of the faiths indulgently accepted by the Roman pantheon) started dreaming of a revelation received at the dawn of human history. This revelation, according to the traditionalist mystique, had remained for a long time concealed under the veil of forgotten languages -- in Egyptian hieroglyphs, in the Celtic runes, in the scrolls of the little-known religions of Asia.
This new culture had to be syncretistic. Syncretism is not only, as the dictionary says, "the combination of different forms of belief or practice;" such a combination must tolerate contradictions. Each of the original messages contains a sliver of wisdom, and although they seem to say different or incompatible things, they all are nevertheless alluding, allegorically, to the same primeval truth.
As a consequence, there can be no advancement of learning. Truth already has been spelled out once and for all, and we can only keep interpreting its obscure message.
If you browse in the shelves that, in American bookstores, are labeled New Age, you can find there even Saint Augustine, who, as far as I know, was not a fascist. But combining Saint Augustine and Stonehenge -- that is a symptom of Ur-Fascism.
2. Traditionalism implies the rejection of modernism.
Both Fascists and Nazis worshipped technology, while traditionalist thinkers usually reject it as a negation of traditional spiritual values. However, even though Nazism was proud of its industrial achievements, its praise of modernism was only the surface of an ideology based upon blood and earth (Blut und Boden). The rejection of the modern world was disguised as a rebuttal of the capitalistic way of life. The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.
3. Irrationalism also depends on the cult of action for action's sake.
Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation. Therefore culture is suspect insofar as it is identified with critical attitudes. Distrust of the intellectual world has always been a symptom of Ur-Fascism, from Hermann Goering's fondness for a phrase from a Hanns Johst play ("When I hear the word 'culture' I reach for my gun") to the frequent use of such expressions as "degenerate intellectuals," "eggheads," "effete snobs," and "universities are nests of reds." The official Fascist intellectuals were mainly engaged in attacking modern culture and the liberal intelligentsia for having betrayed traditional values.
4. The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism.
In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason.
5. Besides, disagreement is a sign of diversity.
Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.
6. Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration.
That is why one of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups. In our time, when the old "proletarians" are becoming petty bourgeois (and the lumpen are largely excluded from the political scene), the fascism of tomorrow will find its audience in this new majority.
7. To people who feel deprived of a clear social identity, Ur-Fascism says that their only privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same country.
This is the origin of nationalism. Besides, the only ones who can provide an identity to the nation are its enemies. Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve the plot is the appeal to xenophobia. But the plot must also come from the inside: Jews are usually the best target because they have the advantage of being at the same time inside and outside. In the United States, a prominent instance of the plot obsession is to be found in Pat Robertson's The New World Order, but, as we have recently seen, there are many others.
8. The followers must feel humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of their enemies.
When I was a boy I was taught to think of Englishmen as the five-meal people. They ate more frequently than the poor but sober Italians. Jews are rich and help each other through a secret web of mutual assistance. However, the followers of Ur-Fascism must also be convinced that they can overwhelm the enemies. Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak. Fascist governments are condemned to lose wars because they are constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of the enemy.
9. For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.
Thus pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. It is bad because life is permanent warfare. This, however, brings about an Armageddon complex. Since enemies have to be defeated, there must be a final battle, after which the movement will have control of the world. But such "final solutions" implies a further era of peace, a Golden Age, which contradicts the principle of permanent war. No fascist leader has ever succeeded in solving this predicament.
10. Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology, insofar as it is fundamentally aristocratic, and aristocratic and militaristic elitism cruelly implies contempt for the weak.
Ur-Fascism can only advocate a popular elitism. Every citizen belongs to the best people in the world, the members or the party are the best among the citizens, every citizen can (or ought to) become a member of the party. But there cannot be patricians without plebeians. In fact, the Leader, knowing that his power was not delegated to him democratically but was conquered by force, also knows that his force is based upon the weakness of the masses; they are so weak as to need and deserve a ruler.
11. In such a perspective everybody is educated to become a hero.
In every mythology the hero is an exceptional being, but in Ur-Fascist ideology heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death. It is not by chance that a motto of the Spanish Falangists was Viva la Muerte ("Long Live Death!"). In nonfascist societies, the lay public is told that death is unpleasant but must be faced with dignity; believers are told that it is the painful way to reach a supernatural happiness. By contrast, the Ur-Fascist hero craves heroic death, advertised as the best reward for a heroic life. The Ur-Fascist hero is impatient to die. In his impatience, he more frequently sends other people to death.
12. Since both permanent war and heroism are difficult games to play, the Ur-Fascist transfers his will to power to sexual matters.
This is the origin of machismo (which implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality). Since even sex is a difficult game to play, the Ur-Fascist hero tends to play with weapons -- doing so becomes an ersatz phallic exercise.
13. Ur-Fascism is based upon a selective populism, a qualitative populism, one might say.
In a democracy, the citizens have individual rights, but the citizens in their entirety have a political impact only from a quantitative point of view -- one follows the decisions of the majority. For Ur-Fascism, however, individuals as individuals have no rights, and the People is conceived as a quality, a monolithic entity expressing the Common Will. Since no large quantity of human beings can have a common will, the Leader pretends to be their interpreter. Having lost their power of delegation, citizens do not act; they are only called on to play the role of the People. Thus the People is only a theatrical fiction. There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.
Because of its qualitative populism, Ur-Fascism must be against "rotten" parliamentary governments. Wherever a politician casts doubt on the legitimacy of a parliament because it no longer represents the Voice of the People, we can smell Ur-Fascism.
14. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak.
Newspeak was invented by Orwell, in Nineteen Eighty-Four, as the official language of what he called Ingsoc, English Socialism. But elements of Ur-Fascism are common to different forms of dictatorship. All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning. But we must be ready to identify other kinds of Newspeak, even if they take the apparently innocent form of a popular talk show.
* * *
Ur-Fascism is still around us, sometimes in plainclothes. It would be so much easier for us if there appeared on the world scene somebody saying, "I want to reopen Auschwitz, I want the Blackshirts to parade again in the Italian squares." Life is not that simple. Ur-Fascism can come back under the most innocent of disguises. Our duty is to uncover it and to point our finger at any of its new instances — every day, in every part of the world. Franklin Roosevelt's words of November 4, 1938, are worth recalling: "If American democracy ceases to move forward as a living force, seeking day and night by peaceful means to better the lot of our citizens, fascism will grow in strength in our land." Freedom and liberation are an unending task.
Umberto Eco © 1995
Pinochet hospitalized after mini-stroke Boston Globe
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