Are We There Yet? Fascism in America

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Wed, 24 Aug 2005 10:16:57 -0700 (PDT)

Are We There Yet? Fascism in America

 

 

 

 

 

Are We There Yet? Fascism in America

 

STEW ALBERT | August 24 2005

 

 

 

Is America going fascist? Or has the cursed event already happened? It

depends on your definition of fascism. What usually occurs in a

fascist scenario?

 

 

 

* Labor unions are weak and the right to strike is denied by law. In

Bush's America, the unions and their solidarity are extremely weak.

The right to strike is still permitted by law, but strikes seldom

happen and when they do, as in the current case of Northwest Airlines,

scabs are brought in and management and the White House collude about

how best to crush the workers. A merging of giant corporations and the

State is well along.

 

 

 

* Civil liberties are declining in number and the right to assert them

grows increasingly chancy. When the Patriot Act is combined with a

variety of authoritarian laws passed during the Clinton administration

and fanatics are placed in charge of the secret police, those who do

speak out against the government must carefully watch their words.

Much of what was once permitted to rebels is now against the law.

Indeed, with secret trials, undisclosed prisons and torture, one may

question to what extent the law actually still exists.

 

 

 

* The increasingly Draconian regime faces a weak, dispirited and

divided opposition. America is almost a de facto one party state where

the Democrats pay Bush the highest compliment by trying to imitate

him. And many in the radical left and progressive movements (Cindy

excepted) aren't able to go beyond silly sectarianism or tactical and

organizational incompetence. --- The rise and glorification of

irrational philosophy. The current government assault on scientific

thought in the name of Christian extremism and phobic nationalism

easily fills that requirement. Additionally, a cultural war rages

where authoritarian religious values deride and delegitimize their

opponents as practitioners of decadence and treason.

 

 

 

* Fascism tends to be warlike and criminally aggressive. The invasion

of Iraq combined with the flag waving, ultraviolence and official big

lies does the trick. And the ongoing threats to Syria and Iran

strengthens the case.

 

 

 

* We usually find a " Duce " in charge. A character created by image

manipulation and propaganda. Every attempt has been made to put Bush

over as a triumph of the will cowboy hero who flies big airplanes and

struts on flight decks in his special uniform. The effort to create a

sneering superman hasn't completely worked because Dubya comes across

as a little too dumb for the task.

 

 

 

* Racism is usually part of the fascist mix. The post 9/11

antidemocratic assault on Arabs and certain Muslim Asians combined

with the panic and minute man vigilantism taking place on the Mexican

border satisfies this similarity.

 

 

 

* Free elections no longer take place although fascism may permit some

stage managed electoral activity. George Bush was not elected

President in 2000. The Presidential election was fixed in Florida.

Doubts continue about the integrity of the 2004 election. There is

authentic concern about the introduction of non paper trail computer

voting. And Republicans are redistricting to assure their

Congressional power.

 

 

 

The leaders of this fascist construction have been following a

successful right wing version of Gramscian analysis. They have

gradually been building an authoritarian culture within the framework

of ordinary civil society and have now reached a point of power where

they have begun reconstructing the State.

 

 

 

When making judgments about fascism's presence we should not just look

at the final totalitarian model that developed in Europe during the

1930s. Fascism passed through various stages and wasn't born overnight

in its final horrible form. And it's possible that America will never

go the full route. It may even develop am Americo-fascism with a human

face. But there is a difficulty with this speculation. The fascisms of

Europe evolved in opposition to the rise of the proletariat and the

challenge of socialism. Hence it included and corrupted certain

aspects of socialism in its practice. It always contained an element

of welfare state in its structure and defined itself as a middle way

between liberal capitalism and socialism.

 

 

 

American fascism is flowering in a post socialist era in which global

capitalists feels fully free to bury the welfare state. Because of

this historical circumstance, American fascism has within itself the

potential for an unearthly collective barbarism.

 

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