I am not going to offer an apology for the fact that my videos over the next few days are going to be about fascism, in the main.
Nor, in that context, do I apologise for the first one, which is out today, being longer than is normal. I like to make videos that are less than five minutes in length, in the main. This one is almost double that. The issue is, however, one of such importance that I did not try to curtail my flow.
I am raising this issue now for what I think are obvious reasons.
Both the USA and France face the risk of having fascist governments before this year is out.
We will not, but unless the Labour Party takes serious action the rise of fascism in this country will continue and what will happen in 2029 is unknown. That is most especially true given that Reform are likely to have a parliamentary presence after 4 July, whilst whatever rump of the Conservative party might remain will, almost certainly, move even further in a far-right direction. Unsurprisingly, I am worried as a result.
That being said, fascism is not beaten by talking about it. Fascism might be created by political rhetoric around the myth of the strong man, the enemy who is the “other”, and an appeal to supposedly traditional values that conflict with what the “strong man” wishes to claim are our current abnormal values. It is, however, defeated by something quite different, which is by removing the causes for alienation within society that so many, not unreasonably, feel at present.
Forty years of neoliberalism have left large numbers of people, and large parts of the UK, alienated from the political mainstream. That was not by accident; that was by design. Neoliberalism was meant to redistribute wealth in a way that would always leave large numbers of people feeling left behind. The existence of inequality that is fuelling the demand for fascism is not an accident: it is a design feature of neoliberal politics.
Labour can address this issue. It could use the power that the government has to deliver growth in the economy. It could tackle the failures in public services. It could redistribute income and wealth. It could as a result tackle inequality. It could promote well-being.
Or, alternatively, it can maintain the status quo, and leave millions in despair, wondering what the whole political process can do for them without resort to a far-right agenda.
One of the reasons why I will be spending so much time over the next five years (all being well) talking about what Labour and other parties should be delivering for the benefit of the people of this country is precisely because I do not want to see us falling into the political mayhem that the far-right agenda will deliver.
I will do that because I care about people, and that is the last thing that the fascist does.
I will also do that because I care about democracy, and our right to choose, and there is no doubt that the far-right wishes to take that choice away. Just look at Trump.
Finally, I will do this because I believe that without change there is a significant threat to our way of life here on earth, and ultimately maybe to life itself in the form that we as humans know it unless we are to change our priorities. Fascists deny climate change, because the only thing that ultimately matters to them in their deeply-warped thinking is the accumulation of wealth for a few, invariably at cost to those within the countries that they seek to govern, but also beyond it. For that reason, we quite literally cannot afford fascism.
So, fascism is going to be quite explicitly on my agenda during the years to come. But much more importantly, so too will be the ways to defeat it.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
“I will do that because I care about people, and that is the last thing that the fascist does.”
Quiet simply fascists and neoliberals don’t recognise the “duty of care” embedded in life:-
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6198262/pdf/f1000research-7-15652.pdf
That duty is the continuous balancing of care for self and others. Since much caring in human cultures is expressed through the use of money it’s important that human beings understand how money works. In short you can say they need to understand “money care.” Fascists and neoliberals don’t want people to understand Money Care because of their greed for money and power. Unbalanced care in human societies doesn’t matter to them because they simply don’t care enough for others. Such attitude creates widespread disfunction in human societies and helps destroy the planet.
Much to agree with
There is nothing to apologise for. Wider discussion of fascism is sorely needed today.
The problem with talking about fascism is that in the minds of most people it means jackboots and toothbrush moustaches, which are obviously nowhere in evidence these days. The new brand of fascism is far more subtle, more pervasive and insidious; harder to recognise and harder to focus on, so harder to fight. A century of scheming has created an enemy much harder to identify, let alone defeat. Maybe it is better to use different label, more aligned with the problems that ordinary people are enduring. Neo-liberalism, perhaps, or corporatism?
Also, remember the old adage “show, don’t tell”. We need to support organisations which embody different ways of thinking, so people can begin to see that other possibilities not only exist, but work. Somehow wind and solar energy have achieved that within their own sectors, as to some extent so have electric vehicles. Let’s do the same for other sectors.
A century of scheming has created an enemy much harder to identify.
If I can recognise modern day fascism, anyone can. It’s frightening so let’s not wrap it up in some non threatening description. Call it what it is!
Peter Oborne is a man whose opinion I respect. He feels he hasn’t changed his views very much but the conservative party has cut its links with a 200 year old tradition. Oborne has your opinion about Reform.
This is an hour but an interesting analysis of the present situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TADeOmCVo_s
I have had facinating discussions with Peter
He is an unreasonable man, meant as a compliment
some might have said the same about you. Also meant as a compliment.
Thanks
Just watched the Peter Oborne interview, so thank you for the link. It was very interesting to see the historical interpretation he was able to give to so many of present day political ideas, in particular his analysis of the role of the press in the 1920/30s, when many of our, and our parents, attitudes were shaped.
Apropos of the blog about ‘fascist traits’ I have been concerned about the number of people complaining about the 20mph restrictions on some of our roads in Wales. To me it seems a deeply selfish approach to what is a perfectly sensible concern about road safety, but so many regard it as an affront to their ‘rights’….
My most touching moment was on the evening of the introduction of the limit when I drove down to my local town, where I first saw the ‘dreaded sign’ and as I dropped my speed, I saw a hedgehog trotting across the road! Safely to the other side.
We have had the same 20mph reaction here
Some people – including mothers in SUVs with their own children safely on board – seem to have almost deliberately sped up as a result
The local police to do not enforce the limit
BBC Sounds are running a serialised reading of Nineteen Eighty Four. If there are any of you that haven’t read this, admittedly doubtful, or even if you have it is well worth a listen in the context of these pieces on facism.
I might listen
You say we won’t have a Fascist government if Labour win, yet Starmer fits most of the signs of fascism that you list in your YouTube video on the topic.
There are videos to come on that theme
Diatribe:
You can’t treat the ‘ordinary’ man/woman as unimportant and a burden on the state without a jaundiced view of the politicians spouting this view. People are thrashing about and looking for an improvement in their lives which entails turning their backs on the wreckage.
Treat all people with respect…
I was moved by ‘The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences’ is a 2006 book written by New York Times reporter Louis Uchitelle. The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequeces written by New York Times reporter Louis Uchitelle.
“Reform are likely to have a parliamentary presence after 4 July, whilst whatever rump of the Conservative party might remain will, almost certainly, move even further in a far-right direction.”
I think that, given a functional leader, (and I do not mean Farage, Johnson, or Badenoch), it is probable that electoral necessity/opportunity will produce an amalgamation of the Tory rump, Reform and the also-ran right-wing groups into a single far-right/fascist party by 2029, which is a very frightening thought. I don’t see Labour, in its current neoliberal incarnation, as being able to mount an effective opposition to such an entity.
Somebody once described fascists as “Conservatives with street gangs”. One implication of this is that we will often struggle to examine policy statements by far-Right politicians to identify where they differ from bog- standard Tory types. In many ways, they don’t differ at all.
They are all keen on the idea of humans being of different worth. Men of course, are or should be, the natural leaders.White Europeans are naturally superior to all other races. And,very relevant to the role of modern Neo-liberalism , ,businessmen,financiers and industrialists are the naturally more informed and decisive ones who should be allowed to enjoy their “natural” superiority by running the economy. The Nazis called this the “Fuhrer prinzip”, the leader principle whereby the true leaders rise to power unencumbered by having to be elected.
For me, the only real distinction between fascists and “just” ordinary Conservatives is whether they would be prepared to stand aside if they permitted real democratic norms to prevail and lost an election.
So we can’t predict what a Farage would do in those circumstances, or a Le Pen but we know too well what to expect of a Trump.
David B writes:
Kim S J has raised a crucial and relevant point regarding the “subtle” manner in which fascism is creeping up on the people of the UK.
Democracy is certainly under threat from the abusers of wealth and power exemplified by the “jackboot” imposition of media lies, pollution, homelessness, austerity, ill-health and restrictive ‘rules’ in many and various guises.
Richard, I welcome your current and future focus upon the evils of fascism, and hope that the messages get through to the uninformed.
The badge shall read: FASCISM IS NOT UK.
Then quickly place an order for 65 million items which can be distributed free to the whole population.
I like it
On his earliest political campaigning, quoted in ‘Tommy Douglas’ (1983) by Doris French Shackleton, p. 68:
“Fascism begins the moment a ruling class, fearing the people may use their political democracy to gain economic democracy, begins to destroy political democracy in order to retain its power of exploitation and special privilege.”
From Wikipedia:
Tommy Douglas was a Scottish Canadian politician who served as Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and Leader of the New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971. A Baptist minister, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in 1935 as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). He left federal politics to become Leader of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and then the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan. His cabinet was the first democratic socialist government in North America and it introduced the continent’s first single-payer, universal health care program. Douglas was voted “The Greatest Canadian” of all time in a nationally televised contest organised by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 2004.
Very good
The Douglas quote illustrates so succinctly why your focus on economic democracy is so fundamental in the fight against fascism.
Agreed