Fascism does not gain power by way of revolution. Nor need it take to the streets, at least in its early days. That only happens when the vestiges of opposition need to be eliminated. Instead fascism gains power through the democratic process. It wins an election, offering simplistic falsehoods that seek to divide society as the basis of its appeal. And then it sets out to not lose power again.
I have long feared fascism in the UK. John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network and I identified it as the major threat to the work we wanted to do at the same time that we set out to achieve change to benefit a majority in society in many countries in 2003. I think we were right to do so.
And now I think that the time has come to say that fascists are in power in the UK, and are ready and waiting to take the next steps to control society in pursuit of their goals.
We know lies were used to win the last election. The ‘oven ready' Brexit that was very obviously nothing of the sort. The claim was blatantly untrue. And that was well known to those making the claim, who also knew (as we all now know) that they had no intention of complying with the deal that they said they would agree. But those lies delivered an 80 seat majority for them. And that was all that they acted about.
Since then we have had brazen denials, again about Brexit. The required nature of the Northern Ireland backstop was clear to see for several years. Despite that the expectation that it be executed as agreed is claimed to be a power heist by the EU when it is nothing of the sort. Expecting someone to abide by their word is not a heist. The party refusing to do so, which is the UK, is revealing contempt for the international order, which has always one of the primary characteristics of fascist governments.
Now we also have an announced and planned assault on human rights, which at a practical level Covid regulation also permits. Worry if you're a woman, gay, trans, bisexual, or a member of any religious or ethnic minority. The UK intends to remove your rights to promote the interests of the white, male minority.
Add to this a an inevitable forthcoming devastating recession, which the government very clearly seeks to make as bad as possible, I would suggest deliberately, and we will have the basis for despair that is always the ultra-nationalist recruiting ground.
The use of state money in pursuit of corporate gain, which is another characteristic of facism, appears to already be underway.
Whilst the idea that there should be tolerance of the behaviour of an elite whose behaviour might be different from that expected of the rest of us is also in progress. What else was the defence of Cummings' outing to Bernard Castle for?
And the suggestion that Extinction Rebellion be considered to be a body involved in organised crime is a clear indication of intention. Opposition is to be criminalised.
Whilst the scapegoating of those desperate people seeking sanctuary in the UK as they flee their home countries is another very obvious sign of this government's planned prejudices.
In the background the enrichment of associates appears to have begun.
And attacks on experts have long been this government's stock in trade. Fascists always hate intellectuals.
All the hallmarks of fascism exist then, excepting, as yet, two things. One is a religious element common to such movements, but maybe much of society has moved on from that need, so I am not sure that absences is significant. The other is any significant promotion of military power, which I admit is a curious absence. My suspicion is that the leaders of our armed forces may not be in alignment with our government as yet. Worry when a cull of the military top brass happens in that case. Cummings has already announced the review that will set that in motion.
The proto-fascist road to fascism in the UK is not now just clear. It is readily apparent that we are a long way down it. Far enough in fact to say that we now have what looks on the basis of all reasonable analysis to be a fascist government.
Of course I worry about saying this. That is the clearest sign that my claim is justified.
But if we do not call out what is happening now who and what will stop it?
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Fully agree. I’ve been writing about this for some time and been called a loony lefty. The military is the one to watch as Cummings is doing an assessment tour of bases at present, having awarded himself the relevant passes.
Well put, and deeply depressing. We had the same conversation in the van on the way to the waste center yesterday and agreed that we now have a fascist government. The left, which is the traditional seat of resistance, has been demoralized and neutered after 4 years of relentless attacks from conservatives and liberals, so I fear that organized resistance from that quarter will be weak. And left liberals were neutered years ago because of ideological conflicts between human rights and neoclassical economics.
I believe that the decisive moment was the vote on Corbyn’s proposal for a ‘softer’ Brexit amendment on the Withdrawal Bill under May’s govt – that lost narrowly. The GE2019 election result may have been very different if Corbyn had won that vote. But too many people with political power failed to see the real danger lying in wait. Millions will pay the price for their hubris.
It is absolutely extraordinary and needs to be called out in the clearest terms possible. You do not have to have soldiers goose-stepping in jackboots to slide into populist authoritarian nationalism.
To your list of worrying signs, you could add ruling through ministerial decree, made possible by Henry VIII powers in the public health legislation to deal with coronavirus and the Brexit legislation, and the inexorable chipping away at norms and conventions by increasingly extreme behaviour that would previously have been regarded as unacceptable.
I do not recognise this Conservative party. Apart from IDS, it seems all living former Conservative party leaders (Major, Hague, Howard, Cameron, May) oppose this course.
I would not be surprised if there are plans to provoke civil unrest, to justify new legislation to restore public order. Or indeed to change electoral law.
Another blog is to follow…
We are thinking the same way
‘But those lies delivered an 80 seat majority for them.‘
With their history of contempt for democracy (historical opposition to universal suffrage, an anti-democratic FPTP voting system, a sham voting referendum, illegal prorogation of Parliament etc etc) are we really to believe that the lying, incompetent buffoon who was scared to be quizzed before the election and campaigned on a Brexit that a majority probably opposed was really given the resounding 80 majority needed to proceed with their fascist plans?
Just remember that the goose stepping armies came later in the 3rd reich not in 1935. But it must be noted that this is a bloodless coup fascism is different every time it arises and geography and time specific.
What worries me is Cummings obsession with AI and robotics Weapons tech, he seems to think we ought to be leading the way. Does he intend a robotic army of marauding resource thieves like a cyborg east India company?
He’s plainly has a disconnect with reality and that is very dangerous.
Also must be noted that fascism is usual the last downward slope of a county’s demise. This maybe the unavoidable end of the old British pre-WW2 hegemony. After all in historical terms 70 years is not a lot
The civil unrest will arise next year when the food runs out. I imagine Boris’s Blackshirts now known as the Covid marshalls doing the house-to-house searches for prepper hoards. I’d been wondering who would be doing that, suggesting here before, for those who recall, we’d be importing American mercenaries. Now I think Cummings plan is revealing itself.
So we need to offer the voters a convincing and appealing alternative. They are easy prey to this authoritarian siren call when they feel materially insecure in an economic system that turns them either into losers or predators, and they feel alienated in a world where family, community and connection to the natural environment are all undermined by economic imperatives.
I think we urgently need a coherent Green model for the economy, finance, and community, but it needs to do a far better job of communicating to ordinary people how this will make their lives secure and prosperous, and how they will be protected through the radical transition from here to there. Far too much energy has been spent antagonising and diverting attention with identity politics, which disastrously makes the Green model look self-absorbed and out of touch at exactly the moment when it is the only thing that can save us.
I do not think the GND has done identity politics …..
I mentioned identity politics as an example of the kind of unhelpful association that people make between Green politics and the left-liberal discourse that they scorn. I am afraid that the tabloid media has established a Pavlovian response there in their readers, but Green-friendly politicians often don’t help themselves with their choice of issue on the too rare occasions when they get a platform. Somehow there needs now to be a fresh start in putting the vision over in a way that transcends the knee-jerk left-right categories and convinces people that their security and identity and prosperity lie along that path.
It’s deeply worrying. There is a small part of me that hopes it will not get this bad but that gets smaller by the day.
It is being done on a ‘drip, drip’ basis as well and a compliant media, in some instances, or media acting as a propaganda arm of government, in many others, not reporting it for what it is. A descent into a fascist state. The parallels to the 1930s are scary. We appear to be repeating history.
But, judging by some comments, there are some amongst Joe Public who still support this corrupt, incompetent government and what they are doing.
2020 has been a dreadful year and it still has over 3 months to go.
Regards,
Craig
It is hard not to concur but the evidence has been there for some time that this is the direction we are in.
The only upside is the reason for this to happen. I think it has been brewing since the scales came away from our eyes briefly in 2008.
The rise in what I would call ‘wealth promoted’ authoritarianism is a rear guard action by the 1% to preserve their gains.
Which means that they are worried and somehow know the game is up. So yes, let us be frightened and worried but it is I believe the same thing driving THEM. Fear
There is still a fight therefore worth having.
Roger Stone, felon and major Trump supporter, wants martial law imposed if Trump loses the election! You might have thought a good dose of British imperialist/fascist rampaging in the 18th and 19th centuries which brought forth an American constitution guaranteeing protection against such rampaging would have some relevance. Not with this “patriotic” (sic) bozo!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/13/roger-stone-to-donald-trump-bring-in-martial-law-if-you-lose-election
I think that we should pay more attention to the media. Don’t be too preoccupied with the Mail and the Sun, etc. Focus more on the so-called liberal and intellectual media, especially the Guardian, Observer, the BBC and so on. It seems to me that their leading journalists are quite consciously corrupt and, when the chips are down, as they were with Corbyn, this rottenness comes to the surface.
I am not sure I trust much about BBC News
The Guardian has always been liberal, and not Labour
I have been banging on about this for years. The Coup d’Etat started when Theresa May shouted, at Jeremy Corbyn, in PMQs “We will never allow you into Power”. The Tories know that their supporter base is dying off. They also know that Neoliberal Capitalism is failing.
This, if I remember correctly, was after she had lost her majority in GE2017. Last December – GE2019 – was clearly rigged. The Postal Vote was managed by an Ex-Tory minister. Voter suppression was rife. Add to that a compliant media and legal system that did not report or punish breaches of Electoral Law.
In addition to these points, we have a population who appear to be happy with the current situation and an Opposition who do not oppose and are part of the problem.
If the Military capitulates then it’s a done job.
Corporate Fascism is coming fast. I fear for the UK.
utterly lacking in any reference to the disabled as many many people simply forget, disability rights were 7 times under attack in 2016 by Iain Duncan smith stopped only by ECOHR at the time which will no longer be able to stop these psychopaths from doing frankly what they want so its very poor indeed that the article failing any acknowledgement of them here
Apologies
we can walk down a road for a long way before we recognise where we really are.
We look around and find we are in the town of Fascistville .
Johnson has purged the party, threatened the Supreme Court by promising to reduce its powers; removed top civil servants, given briefings to selected media and frozen out the others, refused to appear on certain programs; put known Conservatives in charge of the BBC and plan to sell off Channel 4 who can be very critical, cut legal aid and announce ‘tougher’ sentencing (in response to public demand , of course ), today we learn we may leave the European Court of Human Rights, whipped MPs to vote in favour of a bill so that trade deals don’t have to go before the House and now rejects international law.
The old ‘it wouldn’t happen here, old boy, we’re British’, no longer applies.