Very interesting list of traits of the fascist by Dr. Britt. Here they are and the full link to his writings. 1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays. 2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc. 3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc. 4. Supremacy of the Military Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized. 5. Rampant Sexism The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy. 6. Controlled Mass Media Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common. 7. Obsession with National Security Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses. 8. Religion and Government are Intertwined Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions. 9. Corporate Power is Protected The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite. 10. Labor Power is Suppressed Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed . 11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts. 12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations. 13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders. 14. Fraudulent Elections Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections. http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html Notice how so many of these are covered by Trump, he took the credentials from WaPo today. This is how it starts people. There was a wonderful TV movie about this in the 70's. A high school teacher did an experiment with his class, got them all to start thinking in terms of an elite group, gave them drills and behavior instructions, made others look bad if they were not in the club, it got worse and worse as the faction took hold. Then they started lashing out, hating each other until it got out of control. The teacher revealed to them who their real leader was at an assembly with all the students. He showed them their leader, it was Hitler. It was called "The Wave". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICng-KRxXJ8
Not really, Fascists have Cartels, and Councils manage corporations for national interest. A policy which makes absolute sense.
Yet, the Nazi German Labour Front provided Germans with some exceptional rights, including lounges, gyms, canteens in the work place, factory renovations, or even cheap, or free vacations. - - - Updated - - - That's interesting, considering Nazi Germany had the best technology in the World at the time.
This is a bit unfair. Franco, and Peron should really be considered Fascists, and they didn't go nuts invading other nations. Besides, this can apply to Capitalism, and Communism too. The British Empire Capitalists, and Soviet Communists were about as grotesque, and militaristic as the Nazis were, and much more so than Fascist Italy the founders of Fascism.
under Fascism, the rights of NO ONE are guaranteed, as anyone can be accused of being an enemy of the state for arbitrary reasons and "dissapeared".
This is a rather inadequate set of specifications. What Britt is describing is shared by most governments along the authoritarian/nationalist axis, but few of them are actual fascists. Fascism is a particular ideology, with a history and a concrete set of ideals. 7, 8, and 9 are particularly questionable. A more basic and trenchant analysis would include * Palingenetic ultranationalism (Griffin) * Ethno-regionalism * Guild Syndicalism to organize workers * Corporatism (not the same as crony capitalism) to organize the economy. The modern liberal state is incompatible with nationalism. Liberal capitalism's nature is to transcend nationalism, and to break apart and dissolve existing social orders. Crony capitalism makes the state the arm of the corporate oligarchy. Fascists conceive of an organic (corporate) state, of which the corporations are subservient vehicles.
I've done a bit of studying of Fascism & I've never encountered Dr Britt. Having studied both history & what Americans quaintly call 'Political Science' (How very 1950s) I have vastly more respect for the work of Historians on complex historical phenomena like Fascism. Reading the regimes Britt described as 'Fascist' confirms this: Two from five ain't a great hit rate. Hitler & Mussolini - you betcha. One invented the term, the other put his own spin on it but was definitely a Fascist. Franco? no. He toyed with the trappings of Fascism for a while before ditching it for a sort of clerical/nationalist authoritarianism. Not Fascism at all. The hard core Falangists ended up dead on the Russian steppe or increasingly sidelined by the wily Franco. Soeharto? nope. Not a Fascist either. Common or garden nationalist military dictatorship. Pinochet? only for leftists stuck in the 70s. Another Latin American military dictator who employed a bunch of US economists no self respecting Fascist would let cross his borders. As for Trump being a Fascist - the whole point of this thread - nuh, nope, no way. Populist nationalist. Nuthin' special in that respect. Don't believe me? Fine. Here is an article by some of the leading experts on Fascism in the world - Roger Griffin, Robert Paxton & Stanley Payne are THE experts on the topic. Honest to goodness historians who have studied the phenomenon in detail: http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/12/10/9886152/donald-trump-fascism This article is worth reading beginning to end. A good cure for 'internet checklist Fascism' - a disease that infects both left and right. Its also a reminder that Jonah Goldberg is a bit of a joke among actual historians on the subject - always a worthwhile thing to be reminded of. Trump is plenty bad in his own right & his own terms. No need to lazily borrow 'bad' terms just to associate him with evil phenomena. Its no better than the 'Obama is a Communist' tripe that has been clogging the internet for 8 years now.
After we all have learned exactly what Trump stands for, this is a very dangerous conclusion to make. The point of the whole discussion (this discussion and mine as well - see my thread 'Why do people vote for their own doom?') is this; It's not just what kind of fascist abuse Trump spouts NOW, it's what good he will make of those words AFTER he's got into the White House. Nobody (including Trump) can be a fascist as long as he doesn't have the power to execute his ideas. But he can still express those ideas and that should give us a sense of what could happen if he becomes president. It's very easy to dismiss him now as being just another populist nationalist because right now that is, indeed, all he can be. But wait until he moves into the big chair... Then the fascist (already in him) will pop out in the first minute and the country will be in a lot of trouble. Right now all we have are the words of Trump (NOT YET his actions) to warn us about what he really stand for. And I think those words are the CLEAREST indication of his complete and utter disrespect for any kind of democracy. I summed 'm all up in my piece so I am not gonna do that here. Heed the warning-signs that are his words and statements! Once we, the people, give him the power to act on them the s**t will hit the fan. (pardon my French) Never, ever (again) dismiss a fascist-to-be as ''just another radical or populist nationalist''. That happened before in Germany in the 1930's and they still regret it.
Well, one can argue about the exact terms of what a fascist is but regardless of what you call it, we all know authoritarian figures and movements start with leaders like a Trump. Trump may not be a fascist yet but he sure is getting closer and closer to a dictator every time he opens his mouth. Political terms are always going to be debated. History is always going to be told or retold with a bias. But the present is fairly easy to understand. The trends he is displaying and the attitudes of his followers are not conducive to an open, free and just society. This stuff happens in increments. You folks should watch that movie I linked called "The Wave".
Throwing around terms like fascist and racist are what liberals do when they can't defend their own positions. Heck Sanders has more economic fascism in him than any of the others.
Actually, all we have to do is quote Trump and he speaks fascism all by his lonesome. Equating Trump with Sanders is a stretch. The world is watching us scared to death that there are enough truly stupid voters in America to elect the dumbest most obnoxious man in America. I grant you, most of the right wing today are in the same league as Trump but need a few beers to show it. We will see one of two outcomes in November, his utter humiliation or the beginning acts of his impeachment trial. The man will not last a year as POTUS, you can believe me.
I didn't compare them I contrast them. Trump is more an economic capitalist, Sanders more an economic fascist. They watched us do it twice the last two elections. Why would he be impeached? If any one should be impeached it is Obama for his malfeasance in office in allowing the IRS scandal, and not doing ANYTHING about it, and now his support for Clinton who should SURELY be impeached if she wins and especially if the investigation/grand jury/trial are still ongoing as she could not gain the necessary security clearance just to start let alone if she is convicted of violating the FOIA, the FRA and the Espionage Act along with lying to Congress. She has already refused to cooperate with the State Department ID investigation called for by Secretary Kerry, the law REQUIRES her to fully cooperate as she was SecState during the period under investigation.
The above sounds like ''good old fashion'' American politics to me. Compare that to Trump who wants to bring back water-boarding and much more, block entry of all ethnic people he doesn't care for and send women to jail after having an abortion... Oh, and he also wants to censor all free media so people like me (or you) are no longer able to write that Trump is a fascist pig. (At least not without being arrested by his secret police) Politics might not be perfect but the end of politics is the beginning of fascism and we don't want go there.
Gosh, most of those characteristics match what neoliberalism's return did to America, which ended up in oligarchy. And instead of trump being a facist, he and sanders were the only two candidates that fought fascism, oligarchy. I find it funny that some of these traits also define what a patriotic nation looks like, when they put their citizens first and foremost over other nations. All nations have done this, putting their people first, taking care of their own people first, unless that gov't stops representing their people, and instead only represents the elites. That is where we are today, as shown by the Princeton Study which MSM refused to cover. When MSM refuses to cover a study that presented scientific evidence for oligarchy, one has to think MSM is for some reason, in on the treason, and helps to sustain oligarchy which is a form of facism. Makes trump look not like a fascist, but a patriot who will not continue to sell out the dirty rabble so the elites can get richer.
The OP has been completely debunked here before. There is no "Dr. Britt" the academic. Here's a hilarious debunk of "Dr. Britt" and the whole fascism hollering fixation of the LW. It's like they are children playing one of those games where you whisper something down the line and it comes out totally different... except they completely buy into it due to confirmation bias. Sad. http://therightstuff.biz/2014/01/22/fascism-no-one-a-response-to-dr-laurence-britt/
Who said that neo-Nazis need to be sent to re-education centers, or even imprisoned? That's not totalitarianism? Really? Really now?
Nazi Germany Night of the Long Knives. German Aryans, members of the Nazi Party, rounded up and executed by Hitler. proves my point. No one, no citizen, is safe under Fascism. Anyone, everyone, can be a target for death.
What about the British Empire Capitalists? They killed 30 million in India by famine alone, just during the Late Victorian era. That's close to twice the amount of those killed by famine in the Soviet Union. That's probably close to the amount that Nazi Germany killed actually. That's just India, just by famine, just during the Late Victorian era. That doesn't even begin to discuss the Irish potato famine genocide. How the British Empire killed off the Tasmanian Aborigines to virtual extinction. Or the various other crimes that Capitalists of the British Empire took part in. Even during the WW2 era, the British / American Capitalists killed 25,000 German civilians in Dresden, this is even worse than Soviet Communists during the Katyn Massacre where they killed 22,000 Polish intelligentsia. Not only higher numbers, but also civilians, vs intelligentsia.
Fascist Italy looks better than the Capitalist British Empire during the WW2 era. No Dresden firebombing on a non-military target killing 25,000 German civilians. No famine where 3 million died happening under Fascist Italy's territory during WW2, like the 1943 Bengal Famine where 3 million Indians starved to death under the British thumb. No appeasement of the Soviets to takeover Central Europe, a move that mass oppressed, and mass murdered many in Central Europe, like British Capitalist Churchill did in Yalta Conference, and again in Potsdam Conference.
Contrary to your opinions on Fascism. Fascist style economics can be very viable. Rather than letting the free market sort it's self out like the Capitalists insist Fascist style economics, directly manages businesses for national interest, renovates, builds, creates public works for job stimulation, and to help build the economy up. The closest thing we have to a Fascist in U.S.A history, is probably actually F.D.R , that's the fastest economic growth period of modern America. The fastest economic growth in Europe during the 20th century, came from Franco's Spain, who he used a Fascist style approach to help build up Spain's cars, build up Spain's tourism, renovation, public works, cartels managing businesses etc. I could also point out how Nazi Germany tackled unemployment. or how the closest economy in the World today to a Fascist one, is China, which is seeing the fastest economic growth for decades. Yes, I happen to think Fascism can be more successful in developing an economy than free market Capitalism.
