How do you know that what you are looking at is actually fascism? The calling cards, the “tells” for fascism, are very clear:
- the creation of a false enemy
- institutionalized and state wide corruption
- an utter disregard for truth
- the use of murder and torture to maintain political power
- military aggression
This is how we know when we look at Russia that we are looking at a fascist state. This is how we know when we look at Donald Trump that what he truly desires for the U.S., is fascism. This is what the U.S. would fall into, if Donald Trump gained the power that he seeks, and it is more and more what the Republican Party in the U.S. is striving for.
also beware of fascism in the guise of “populist” movements. note that populists will avoid the use of populism to refer to their “back to roots” ideology, knowing that “isms” have strong negative semantic values from a political perspective. Populism too is far right, might makes right–I would call it “proto-fascist” When the Canadian conservative party talks about balancing populist and conservative viewpoints, it makes me cringe.
I used to feel a warm glow when I saw a Canadian flag flying from a car window. I now get a knot in the pit of my stomach when I see one. Those flags have become fascist symbols. It’s disheartening and frightening. I don’t know if the coming war against fascism is going to be my war to fight, but that war is coming, and probably sooner rather than later, and it is going to be another bloody one. It will also be world wide. It won’t be limited to Canada, or the U.S., or the Ukraine.