I would like to look at two famous scholars' definitions of fascism and examine them in the context of current events in the United States.
First, a quote by Robert Paxton, an emeritus professor of history at Columbia.
"Fascism may be defined as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a massed-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion."
In the context of this formulation of fascism, let us examine Tea Party and more generally right-wing treatment of American Muslims and Hispanics.
Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, there has been a great deal of hysteria about radicalism among Muslims. Up until recently, this attitude has taken a strong but anecdotal place in the United States. Muslims are more often pulled out of lines in airports and subject to suspicion by the general American population. In addition, a strong culture of intolerance and hate for American Muslims has been proven by numerous videos, available for viewing on YouTube, which depict crowds protesting outside Muslim gatherings.
But this pervasive discrimination has now become structural. Rep. Peter King, R-New York, has called for a congressional hearing to determine whether or not Muslims in America have become radicalized. This call was answered, and this hearing is currently underway.
Hispanic people as well have been singled out as being a threat to America on the basis of race. But their situation is different — the discriminatory attitudes against them are older, more pervasive and already very entrenched in American law.
One is able to see, between these two manifestations of discrimination, the realization of the full definition of fascism offered by Paxton. The energetic and cult-like Tea Party, largely defined by middle-class anger over deteriorating standards of living, has lashed out at ethnic groups and blamed them for the downfall of American society. The Tea Party, although a working-class movement, has strong advocates among right-wing elites.
This alliance has manifested itself by allowing these discriminations to be structurally supported, as evidenced by discriminatory policies about Hispanic immigration and the recent push to governmentally support the persecution of Muslim people — in short, the pursuit of internal cleansing without ethical or legal restraint.
Second, Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that a fascist system "has tight control at the top and strict obedience has to be established at every level — there's little bargaining, a little give and take, but the line of authority is perfectly straightforward."
This definition is relevant in terms of the labor struggles currently occurring across the United States. In New Jersey, Wisconsin, Michigan, Rhode Island, Ohio and others, middle-class government workers have been singled out as public enemy number one.
Although several weeks ago the governors of these states were still arguing that these cuts were simply about balancing their respective budgets, Gov. Scott Walker and his Republican harem blew the lid off of that justification with their move this week. While Wisconsin Democrats fled to the hills to avoid a vote on Walker's budget, the Republicans carefully edited out all language in the bill pertaining to funding. In doing so, by Wisconsin state law, the entire state senate did not need to be present for the vote, and the Republican representatives voted it in before Democrats could rush back in to block it.
In doing so, Wisconsin Republicans inarguably revealed their true intention — the consolidation of power.
Furthermore, with the way they subverted democracy to pass Walker's budget, Wisconsin Republicans exercised oligarchical power. With the passing of this bill, they have ensured their ability to retain tight, top-down control over middle-class workers. They have also, with the removal of unions' collective bargaining rights, created a system where a little give and take is the most Wisconsin workers can hope for.
This is not a masturbatory case study or lofty philosophizing — it is the eminent, terrifying and real introduction of fascist policies into the United States government.
I would like to finish with one more quote from Chomsky — "I'm just old enough to have heard a number of Hitler's speeches on the radio," he said, "and I have a memory of the texture and the tone of the cheering mobs, and I have the dread sense of the dark clouds of fascism gathering."
Keep your ears and eyes open for ways to show solidarity, and do not let this historical moment pass by without a fight.
Chris Norris-LeBlanc '13 is from Rhode Island. He can be contacted at chris.norris.leblanc@gmail.com
