George Bush and some Republicans have begun to call Islamic terrorists fascists, and those who disagree with their policies as fascist sympathizers. These are very powerful words and they frame the discussion on Iraq war and other Bush administration policies with scary and repulsive images. Who would want to be associated with fascism?
I found some interesting definitions on fascism written by Chip Berlet in 1992. It seems to me that Bush and his cronies have their own similarities with fascist ideology.
Fascism was forged in the crucible of post-World War I nationalism in Europe. … The humiliation imposed by the victors in the Great War, coupled with the hardship of the economic Depression, created bitterness and anger. That anger frequently found its outlet in an ideology that asserted not just the importance of the nation, but its unquestionable primacy and central predestined role in history.
In identifying "goodness" and "superiority" with "us," there was a tendency to identify "evil" with "them." This process involves scapegoating and dehumanization. It was then an easy step to blame all societal problems on "them," and presuppose a conspiracy of these evildoers which had emasculated and humiliated the idealized core group of the nation. To solve society's problems one need only unmask the conspirators and eliminate them.
Fascism and Nazism as ideologies involve, to varying degrees, some of the following hallmarks:
*** Nationalism and super-patriotism with a sense of historic mission.
*** Aggressive militarism even to the extent of glorifying war as good for the national or individual spirit.
*** Use of violence or threats of violence to impose views on others…
*** Authoritarian reliance on a leader or elite not constitutionally responsible to an electorate.
*** Cult of personality around a charismatic leader.
*** Reaction against the values of Modernism, usually with emotional attacks against both liberalism and communism.
*** Exhortations for the homogeneous masses of common folk to join voluntarily in a heroic mission; often metaphysical and romanticized in character.
*** Dehumanization and scapegoating of the enemy - seeing the enemy as an inferior or subhuman force, perhaps involved in a conspiracy that justifies eradicating them.
*** The self image of being a superior form of social organization beyond socialism, capitalism and democracy.
*** Elements of national socialist ideological roots, for example, ostensible support for the industrial working class or farmers; but ultimately, the forging of an alliance with an elite sector of society.
*** Abandonment of any consistent ideology in a drive for state power.
From: NLG Civil Liberties Committee
Sept. 27, 1992 by Chip Berlet
http://www.remember.org/hist.root.what.html
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