EDITORIAL: 14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism

Ne News
7 April 2017

At the moment, there are concerns worldwide of moves towards fascism, and in particular a fascist world government that will be the centrepiece of the New World Order. However, the good news is that it is falling apart with the United Kingdom leaving the European Union (which is essentially the Fourth Reich, following the blueprint done by IG Farben during the Third Reich of Nazi Germany). However, it should be noted that work on this editorial started just a couple of days before Brexit was made official.

A few years back, Dr. Lawrence Britt analysed the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes (most notably Pinochet in Chile). There were fourteen defining characters (which are indicated in bold with comments in normal text).

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

It is worth noting that in the Western world, we are seeing the rise of nationalism and populism. In Australia for example, we are seeing far-right wing politicians and groups using national flags, slogans, symbols, songs and other paraphernalia. An example of this is Reclaim Australia, which uses the national flag, and a couple of years ago at the Cronulla Riots, far-right wing groups came with the Southern Cross flag that was used in the 1850s to fight for democracy.

Many politicians uses this tactic to gain votes, such as Marine Le Pen in France, Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Pauline Hanson in Australia. During the 2016 US Presidential Elections, the now US President Donald Trump used “Make America Great Again” as his slogan.

However, groups that are fighting racism and fascism is gradually regaining control over these symbols, such as in England, in which the people of a multicultural England reclaimed the English flag from the ultra-right wing groups such as the League of St George (http://www.caef.org.uk/d64flag.html). And it is possible for a multicultural Australia to reclaim the Australian flag from ultra-right wing groups such as Reclaim Australia, United Patriots Front and True Blue Crew.

In regards to the national flag. Ne News believe that the national flag should be the symbol of the people living in that country, regardless of that person’s particular heritage; and it is up to the people to regain their flag from the ultra-right wing groups.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

At the current time, we are seeing innocent refugees and asylum seekers, whose only “crime” was escaping regimes that commit horrific crimes against humanity (and many of them supported and aided by the West and their allies including Israel and Saudi Arabia). Unfortunately, these asylum seekers and refugees has also committed the “crime” of being Muslims, a religion that is being scapegoated by Western governments to distract the people from corruption within governments (refer to characteristic 3 below).

In Australia, refugees are being locked up in detention centres in remote places (such as the independent nation-state of Nauru) for the crime of fleeing persecution. And some of these people are being forced back to their homeland where they would be murdered by their governments. But the mainstream media talks about “security”, and that since the two major parties (as well as parties like Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party) are closer to fascism, they would persuade their people to ignore the human rights abuses going on in these detention centres.

In addition, as a result of the so-called “War on Terror” (which is designed not to fight ‘terrorism’ but to take away our freedoms), we have seen an increase in the use of torture (referred to as “enhanced interrogation” by Western governments due to the stigma attached to torture, and that no one would support torture), and a rise in the use of summary executions, assassinations (especially by Western governments) and long incarcerations of prisoners who had committed “offences” of “terrorism”.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

Fascists, as well as the ruling elite, needs scapegoats to distract the people from horrendous crimes that they commit, as well as corruption that the elite has committed. For example, in the 1850s, miners from China were used as scapegoats, and after Federation, the Chinese were banned. Post-World War II, newly arrived immigrants from mainland Europe were used as scapegoats/enemies and in the 1970s until 11 September 2001, Asians were used as scapegoats/enemies (in her 1996 maiden speech to the House of Representatives, Pauline Hanson said that Australia was in danger of being swamped by Asians, despite making up around 2-5 percent of the population). After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001 (which was an inside job), the scapegoating moved onto Muslims (last year in her maiden speech to the Senate, Pauline Hanson said that Australia was in danger of being swamped by Muslims, despite making around 2 percent of the Australian population, and Hinduism was the fastest growing religion in Australia according to the census).

Politicians around the world tend to get people worked up against groups such as racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists etc. because they need to focus people’s anger towards a group that they (the government) don’t like. We have already spoke about racial, ethnic and religious minorities in the paragraph above, but other groups have been targeted by fascist regimes such as liberals, communists, and socialists. This is to distract the public and funnel the natural anger that people have towards fascists towards scapegoats/enemies.

As mentioned by Ne News a number of times, Muslims are responsible for a very small number of terrorist attacks throughout the world (in fact, according to Europol, Muslims are responsible for less than ONE PERCENT of terrorist attacks in the European Union), but has 60 percent of the world’s crude oil reserves. The fact that Muslim countries has 60 percent of the world’s crude oil reserves is the real reason behind the War on Terror.

Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, as well as other fascists such as General Augusto Pinochet and Surharto did this to distract the public. In the early days of their regimes, liberals, communists and socialists were locked up, or even murdered by these fascist regimes. And governments today are going after liberals, communists and socialists, as well as racial, ethnic and religious minorities to distract the public from cuts to essential services, as well as the negative effects that mass privatisation has had on the lives of the people (as mentioned later in this editorial, privatisation – which is one of the core pillars of fascism – is essentially stealing the property of the people).

In addition, trade unions are being suppressed by governments around the world through new laws that are designed to suppress trade unions. After the 2016 double-dissolution elections in Australia, despite losing seats on the issue, the conservative Liberal Party got the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) through both Houses of Parliament with support from several far-right wing parties such as Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party. The ABCC was designed to go after independent trade unions such as the CFMEU who refused to cave in to government demands. This will be discussed later on in this editorial.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread

domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

As a result of the so-called “War on Terror” and possible war, governments are giving a disproportionate amount of government funding, even though there is now a famine in Somalia and cuts to essential services at home such as social security, education, health care, the arts and culture, public broadcasters, etc.

In fact, while we are in an alleged “budget emergency”, which has seen cuts to essential services, the government has been increasing spending on the military, including billions of dollars on fighter jets that often has problems. In fact, at the 2017 Avalon Air Show back in February, the showpiece of the show (the F-35, which costs hundreds of millions of dollars for just one, and the Federal Government brought 72 of them and might be useless in a war) broke down on its way to Avalon (https://independentaustralia.net/article-display/disaster-at-avalon-the-f-35-strikes-out,10093).

In addition, the government has spent money on submarines, which like the F-35 would be useless in a war.

This is a sign that governments around the world is moving towards fascism.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

When Julia Gillard was Prime Minister of Australia, she introduced a carbon tax to fight climate change, and there were protests against it from the elite, claiming that she broke an election promise. When Tony Abbott became Prime Minister of Australia, he broke multiple election promises, and not a word about it. This is because of rampant sexism, and it is a pillar of fascism.

In many western countries, governments tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Look at the cabinet of US President Donald Trump, which is almost exclusively male, with a few token females. And in Australia, the cabinet of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is almost entirely male (which was also the case with his predecessor Tony Abbott, who gave himself the position of “Minister for Women”).

In Australia, despite widespread support for same-sex marriage, the government is hesitant; and it is worth noting that suppression of homosexuality (as well as the suppression of divorce and abortion) are facets of fascism. Homosexuality, divorce and abortion is opposed by the far-right wing Christian fundamentalist group, the Australian “Family” Association. Similar organisations exists overseas, including the American “Family” Association, which wants all elected officials to do their swearing in on a Bible, regardless of their religion.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

It is worth noting that a free press is necessary for a democracy to exist, but unfortunately governments are interfering with the free press. In fact, in many countries, a free press is guaranteed by their Constitution, laws or both. Media outlets, both publicly-owned (i.e. owned by the taxpayers) and privately-owned (i.e. owned by media conglomerates), both liberal and conservative, both left-wing and right-wing, are free to criticise the government of the day.

However, freedom of the media is being encroached by governments of all stripes throughout the world, and there is concerned from the people that public broadcasters (whose very funding is being cut by governments around the world) may be sold off to multinational media conglomerates under the pretext of new technology, when in fact governments want more power to unelected and unaccountable media conglomerates.

Earlier in the year, the World Socialist Web Site reported that under the Heritage Foundation plan (note that the Heritage Foundation is a front for the Koch Brothers), the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, which oversees the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) will be entirely privatised as part of budget cuts by US President Donald Trump (http://www.globalresearch.ca/budget-austerity-under-trump-prepares-to-slash-federal-budget-by-10-5-trillion-over-next-decade/5570328).

And in Australia, the far-right wing Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) wants to see both public broadcasters – the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) – privatised (https://ipa.org.au/publications/2080/be-like-gough-75-radical-ideas-to-transform-australia). And as highlighted on Ne News in 2016 (both website and show), new technology will be used as a pretext for privatisation of our public broadcasters, but the real reason is to appease American media baron Rupert Murdoch, whose father Sir Keith Murdoch was opposed to the formation of the ABC. In addition, the Federal Government is going after community media as well, with community television being forced off air by 30 June (already Sydney’s TVS and Brisbane’s 31 Digital have gone off air, with Perth’s West TV, Adelaide’s Channel 44 and Melbourne’s C31 will go in the next couple of months) with the government also targeting community radio.

This could lead to censorship of the important stories that would embarrass the government of the day, with important issues such as corruption within government (remember “Choppergate” and Michaelia Cash buying a $800 000 property on impulse while on government business on the Gold Coast?). Instead of these issues being discussed in depth (these issues will be censored), we will get nothing but celebrity gossip.

In order to defeat fascism, we need a free and independent media.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

ANZAC Day is coming, and once again the Federal Government has announced concerns over a possible terrorist attack at Gallipoli. This happens every year, despite the fact that dying a terrorist attack is extremely low. In fact, this is part of the government’s obsession with national security, and fear of something like terrorism is often used by governments as a motivational tool over the masses.

Every time there is a fear of a terrorist attack, new laws (designed to make us “more safe”) which involves greater surveillance is introduced. And governments often say that “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear”, even though they (governments) are often hiding details that could destroy the myth of the boggyman such as the so-called “Islamic State” (which is neither Islamic nor a State, and is supported by the United States of America, the European Union, Israel and Saudi Arabia among others).

It is worth noting that the chances of dying in a terrorist attack is extremely low, and governments and the media knows that; but don’t tell us, preferring us to know about Kayne West and Kim Kardashian over knowing the truth about the War on Terror. In fact, the War on Terror is about taking away the freedoms of the people in the name of security.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

At the current time, governments throughout the world are using the most common religion in the world as a tool to manipulate public opinion. An example of this is a alleged “campaign” by non-Christians to “ban Christmas” that comes up every Christmas in the Western world; when in fact many non-Christians don’t want Christmas banned. This whole “War on Christmas” myth has been promoted by governments and the mainstream media to fan hatred towards non-Christians (and in particular Muslims which as been mentioned a number of times in this editorial).

A number of times, the Australian Government spoke about Australia being a Christian country and uses Judeo-Christian values; even though according to the Australian Constitution, Australia is actually a secular state with a clear separation of state and religion.

Every year, despite the clear separation of state and religion as highlighted in the Constitution, our politicians go to Church prior to Parliament opening for the year. This cause politicians to use religious rhetoric and terminology, and even saying that the Australian Government talks about being devout Christians when they are locking up people who are fleeing persecution in remote detention centres, even though many Christians themselves are opposed to refugees being locked up in detention centres.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

Throughout the world, we are seeing the protection of corporate power, which is at the core of fascism. As mentioned by the fascist leader of Italy, Benito Mussolini, fascism should rightly be called corporatism, as it is the merger of state and corporate power. And as this was true in the 1930s, it is just as true in the 2010s. Governments are often put into power by the industrial and business aristocracy, which creates a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

If governments do something that business don’t like, then the government is gone. This was the case during the Cold War when the United States of America was overthrowing governments that they didn’t like and put in fascist rulers who would govern their countries for corporations in the United States of America. In fact, many of these fascist rulers would privatise public assets for these corporations.

And as will be highlighted in number 10 below, these fascist governments would go after labour power and trade unions as these organisations would pose a threat to the elite that controls a fascist government.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

Throughout the Western World, governments are taking on trade unions, mostly unions that look after their members and not big business. As you may be aware, last year the governing Liberal Party under Malcolm Turnbull went to a double-dissolution election with the main issue being the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) to fight the power of the CFMEU, a trade union that looks after their members. It is worth noting that some unions (such as the SDA) are in the pockets of employers and not their members.

When the Liberal Party was brought back to power, they (along with the Liberal Democrat’s David Leyonhjelm (who is also a member of the far-right wing Institute of Public Affairs along with former Senator Bob Day of Family First) as well as far-right wing firebrand Pauline Hanson brought the ABCC into law, despite almost costing the coalition government at the 2016 double-dissolution election.

And in addition, the government and their allies in the Liberal Democrats, Nick Xenophon and One Nation are fighting to make free speech illegal (note that they are in favour of freedom of speech for the richest one percent), and their allies in the media has savagely attacked ACTU leader Sally McManus for practising her freedom of speech (https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/sally-mcmanus-civil-disobedience-and-the-bland-laziness-of-liberal-politics,10184).

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

At the current time, the world is experiencing the rise of anti-intellectualism with the far-right wing media outlets (such as the tabloid newspapers owned by News Corp Australia such as The Daily Telegraph in Sydney and the Herald Sun in Melbourne) as well as tabloid news and current affairs programmes on television are promoting anti-intellectualism and airing hostility to higher education and academia. There are claims that many intellectuals are living in ivory towers and are disconnected from ordinary people.

The fact is that many of people who work in the far-right wing media outlets as well as tabloid media outlets are the ones who are out of touch

In addition, higher education encourages debate on controversial issues, and it is well known that fascists do not like debate on issues, preferring us to focus on hating our fellow human beings, deflecting attention away from these important issues that affect everyone.

In addition, governments with their allies in the mainstream media is censoring (and even arresting) professors as well as other academics for practising their freedom of speech; despite talking about the right of freedom of speech by getting rid of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

Throughout the world, there is an obsession with crime and punishment, and this is promoted by both governments and the mainstream media. It is also worth noting that it is this obsession with crime and punishment that is leading us to a police state complete with surveillance cameras, allegedly there to “keep us safe” when it is to monitor the people. It is worth noting that these surveillance cameras have actually caused more crime. And very soon, microphones will be used to monitor what we say.

Many Western governments talk about more surveillance cameras and more money for the police, and we are even seeing the militarisation of the police force in many Western nations, and in particular SWAT teams in the United States of America. And many politicians (mostly right-wing politicians) uses “law and order” in their campaign, and in many cases, “law and order” candidates win elections without investing in solutions to crimes, such as increasing spending on traineeships and apprenticeships, and increasing funding for education. It is cuts to education, traineeships and apprenticeships that has led to the “prison-industrial complex” throughout the world, in which people goes into a cycle which involves multiple stints in prison due to a failure from governments to invest in programmes that would cut crime such as traineeships, apprenticeships and higher education (https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/private-prisons-tisa-and-the-human-services-privatisation-creep,9970)

We have also seeing racial profiling in the United States of America, and this is particularly the case of African-Americans in the United States of America, as well as Muslims throughout the Western world, instead of investing in education and jobs that would lower the crime rates.

The biggest beneficiaries of “law and order” are private prison companies, who benefits from more prisons. It is worth noting that in many countries, many prisons must have a minimum number of prisoners, which means that more people are being sent to prison for minor offences such as jaywalking to appease the prison-industrial complex

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

One of the core characteristics of fascism is privatisation. The first fascist leader in Europe, Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini once said that fascism should rightly be called corporatism as it is a merger of state and corporate power. As mentioned in a previous editorial on Ne News, privatisation is basically stealing, if not theft of property that is owned by the public. During the time of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, the regimes of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler respectively implemented mass privatisations in their country.

In the 1980s, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (who said that there is no such thing as a society) privatised many assets in the United Kingdom; and in Australia, governments (both Labor and Liberal) has privatised many assets, such as QANTAS, Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, Commonwealth Employment Service (CES) and Medibank with the far-right wing Institute of Public Affairs wanting more privatisations (https://ipa.org.au/publications/2080/be-like-gough-75-radical-ideas-to-transform-australia). As mentioned a couple of weeks ago in an editorial, Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett also privatised many services, such as gas, electricity and public transport among others (http://nenews2016.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/editorial-privatisation-root-of-fascism.html).

However, there is a campaign to put these assets back in public hands, which was mentioned in the editorial. But corporations are trying to pass treaties that makes it impossible.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

In the United States of America for example, the election commission is controlled by both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party and this duopoly do not allow third-party (like the Libertarian Party, Green Party, Communist Party, etc.) to do well at an election by not allowing them to participate in debates, or as highlighted during the 2016 US Presidential Election, set unrealistic targets for minor parties (minor parties needs 15 percent in surveys to participate, which is unrealistic).

In other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the electoral commission is an independent umpire that is not controlled by the major parties (Labour and Conservatives in the United Kingdom and Liberal and Australian Labor Party in Australia); and in some countries, minor parties can get elected (such as the Nick Xenophon Team, which holds the seat of Mayo in South Australia and Katter’s Australian Party, which holds a seat in Queensland), but in Australia, minor parties are more prevalent in the Senate.

However, in many countries (including in Western nations), elections are manipulated by smear campaigns (i.e. character assassinations) or even assassinations of opposition candidate. There has also been cases of the use of legislation to control voting numbers (such as the poll tax in the United States of America to control the number of African-Americans who were eligible to vote), as well as the manipulation of the media (such as the 2013 Federal Election in Australia in which papers owned by American media baron Rupert Murdoch were heavily biased against the Australian Labor Party throughout the election).