Fascism

I am a new poster but I have lurked for a couple years and know that some here have lived under fascist regimes. I haven't been around often enough to know who is who but one person who caught my eye was Larissa from Raw Story who posts here, and I think she lived in USSR before 1989, but I could well be wrong about that. I think there are at least a few others.

I spent time in both the USSR and East Germany before the Cold War ended, and I think we should collectively write here on this thread about our accounts, and those experiences as visitors and citizens.

I respectfully ask that those who have experienced this strict and claustrophobic way of life share their stories, because these stories must be told. If we forget history we are doomed to repeat it.

On edit: typo

I didn't live under Saddam but half my family did, and some still are there.

I could tell many stories about life in a true fascist dictatorship. How when I talked to my grandparents from a young age on the phone I was instructed before hand things to not say. I was told to not ask any questions. The calls were monitored in person each and every time. Sometimes the calls would be cut off with a warning. Other times the person would break in and tell us to change the topic of conversation.

There were many anti-american rallies in Iraq leading up to the first Gulf War. There were notices about the demonstration and flyers distributed to houses with instructions on where to be and when. My cousin didn't go once as he was sick, and police showed up to the door to interogate him as to why he didn't show up to protest. He was arrested and held for a few weeks during which time he of course had no trial and was beaten. He never missed another protest.

A second cousin of mine was shot in the head for standing on her roof when, apparently, one of Saddam's sons was driving by. No warning. Just shot out of nowhere standing on her own roof. She has a scar to this day running along half her face where the bullet went through.

Her Uncle (on an opposite side of the family) was arrested and hung by his toes for months, only let down occasionaly each day. He never walked properly again.

I could go on and on, but it's bedtime.

except thank you for sharing.

because I want other people to post their stories.
OP, maybe could you change the title to something like "Fascism: post your experiences" so that more people will open it?

it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross - Sinclair Lewis. Are we lving under fascism right now???

I would prefer to hear about true fascism.

When I visited Munich, I stayed with friends of the family. They had survived Nazi Germany. When they served my coffee, it was in their "fine China". Their tea set was issued by the Nazi party in 1937. On the bottom of each piece was a swastika.

My friend's grandfather was forced marched to the eastern front, and never heard from again. He was in his late teens when this happened.

I tried to fix the title but I guess the "editing time" expired. I think these stories are important as well. They must be memorialized somewhere, so why not here, on this website that represents the heart of democracy.

I do understand this topic is difficult and painful, but if not here, where? If we don't record history, who will?

almost irrelevant. Fascism and Stalinist Communism were the prototypical twin pillars of modern totalitarian systems.

What many of us here are alarmed by are the many similarities between the early years of NSPD rule in Germany and our own recent history. The nazis did not come into power through the violent overthrow of the established order, as did their cohorts on the left in revolutionary Russia, the moved into power through the existing system (although the Weimer Republic was disfunctional and the NSPD never actually won a legitimate election,) and then proceeded to carefully destory that system 'from within', slowly implementing the full totalitarian nightmare of the late 30's and 40's. Many of us see a similar process of destroying the system from within taking place right here as the theofascist right gradually implements their nightmare vision of the future.

If I am taking your thread somewhere it wasn't supposed to go, I apologize.

Kick & Rec

I live in the biggest country in Asia and teach adult students. It takes them some time to warm up, but you hear some stories. The smartest woman I've ever met- a woman who could have done *anything* she wanted to is now an accountant. She spent her teenage years wrapping wontons for farmers in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere because her parents were university professors. She wasn't allowed to go to high school. She taught herself English reading translations of Dumas. But she goes on with her life- she likes her job and she's relatively happy. What else can you do with the ruins of your potential? She's a lot less bitter than I would be in similar circumstances.
I had another class when I was talking about tattoos and a student mentioned that she and her college classmates carved slogans in their arms with razor blades in protest. I had to sign an agreement not to talk about "Taboo Subjects" the 3 Ts in this country, so I had to change the subject so the other students in the class wouldn't complain.
What impresses me though isn't that it is "more oppressive" than America in terms of what you can get away with. It's the unpredictability. There are all these rules that no one really enforces or takes seriously which can lull you into a sense that things are actually freer. And then you run into a policeman who's having a bad day and your ass is grass for doing something seemingly minor.

about your Chinese (I think) friend and your experiences living in China. I appreciate your input.

I never lived under a fascist regime..

But I study it.

I have lived in a totalitarian environment and have had my rights taken away because I have PSTD... It is a nightmare to live in an abusive authoritarian environment.
To see an entire nation become like the nightmares I endured for a few years sounds too horrific.

Please those of you who lived under fascism..Do tell your stories so that people on DU can heed them and learn and see for themselves how fascism is really creeping into the very social fabric of the way people relate to one another in America even in progressive Americans.
Someone said WE are the last barrier to fascism..And that is why we must be so sensitized and vilagent!!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

The Fourteen Characteristics of a fascist state:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism. From the prominent displays of flags and bunting to the ubiquitous lapel pins, the fervor to show patriotic nationalism, both on the part of the regime itself and of citizens caught up in its frenzy, was always obvious. Catchy slogans, pride in the military, and demands for unity were common themes in expressing this nationalism. It was usually coupled with a suspicion of things foreign that often bordered on xenophobia.

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights. The regimes themselves viewed human rights as of little value and a hindrance to realizing the objectives of the ruling elite. Through clever use of propaganda, the population was brought to accept these human rights abuses by marginalizing, even demonizing, those being targeted. When abuse was egregious, the tactic was to use secrecy, denial, and disinformation.

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause. The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice—relentless propaganda and disinformation—were usually effective. Often the regimes would incite “spontaneous” acts against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals, and “terrorists.” Active opponents of these regimes were inevitably labeled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly.

4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism. Ruling elites always identified closely with the military and the industrial infrastructure that supported it. A disproportionate share of national resources was allocated to the military, even when domestic needs were acute. The military was seen as an expression of nationalism, and was used whenever possible to assert national goals, intimidate other nations, and increase the power and prestige of the ruling elite.

5. Rampant sexism. Beyond the simple fact that the political elite and the national culture were male-dominated, these regimes inevitably viewed women as second-class citizens. They were adamantly anti-abortion and also homophobic. These attitudes were usually codified in Draconian laws that enjoyed strong support by the orthodox religion of the country, thus lending the regime cover for its abuses.

6. A controlled mass media. Under some of the regimes, the mass media were under strict direct control and could be relied upon never to stray from the party line. Other regimes exercised more subtle power to ensure media orthodoxy. Methods included the control of licensing and access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism, and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media were often politically compatible with the power elite. The result was usually success in keeping the general public unaware of the regimes’ excesses.

7. Obsession with national security. Inevitably, a national security apparatus was under direct control of the ruling elite. It was usually an instrument of oppression, operating in secret and beyond any constraints. Its actions were justified under the rubric of protecting “national security,” and questioning its activities was portrayed as unpatriotic or even treasonous.

8. Religion and ruling elite tied together. Unlike communist regimes, the fascist and protofascist regimes were never proclaimed as godless by their opponents. In fact, most of the regimes attached themselves to the predominant religion of the country and chose to portray themselves as militant defenders of that religion. The fact that the ruling elite’s behavior was incompatible with the precepts of the religion was generally swept under the rug. Propaganda kept up the illusion that the ruling elites were defenders of the faith and opponents of the “godless.” A perception was manufactured that opposing the power elite was tantamount to an attack on religion.

9. Power of corporations protected. Although the personal life of ordinary citizens was under strict control, the ability of large corporations to operate in relative freedom was not compromised. The ruling elite saw the corporate structure as a way to not only ensure military production (in developed states), but also as an additional means of social control. Members of the economic elite were often pampered by the political elite to ensure a continued mutuality of interests, especially in the repression of “have-not” citizens.

10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated. Since organized labor was seen as the one power center that could challenge the political hegemony of the ruling elite and its corporate allies, it was inevitably crushed or made powerless. The poor formed an underclass, viewed with suspicion or outright contempt. Under some regimes, being poor was considered akin to a vice.

11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts. Intellectuals and the inherent freedom of ideas and expression associated with them were anathema to these regimes. Intellectual and academic freedom were considered subversive to national security and the patriotic ideal. Universities were tightly controlled; politically unreliable faculty harassed or eliminated. Unorthodox ideas or expressions of dissent were strongly attacked, silenced, or crushed. To these regimes, art and literature should serve the national interest or they had no right to exist.

12. Obsession with crime and punishment. Most of these regimes maintained Draconian systems of criminal justice with huge prison populations. The police were often glorified and had almost unchecked power, leading to rampant abuse. “Normal” and political crime were often merged into trumped-up criminal charges and sometimes used against political opponents of the regime. Fear, and hatred, of criminals or “traitors” was often promoted among the population as an excuse for more police power.

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption. Those in business circles and close to the power elite often used their position to enrich themselves. This corruption worked both ways; the power elite would receive financial gifts and property from the economic elite, who in turn would gain the benefit of government favoritism. Members of the power elite were in a position to obtain vast wealth from other sources as well: for example, by stealing national resources. With the national security apparatus under control and the media muzzled, this corruption was largely unconstrained and not well understood by the general population.

14. Fraudulent elections. Elections in the form of plebiscites or public opinion polls were usually bogus. When actual elections with candidates were held, they would usually be perverted by the power elite to get the desired result. Common methods included maintaining control of the election machinery, intimidating and disenfranchising opposition voters, destroying or disallowing legal votes, and, as a last resort, turning to a judiciary beholden to the power elite.

Sound familiar?

Please get your facts straight. Totalitarianism is not all that much more pleasant in the big picture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism

Nazi Germany, Franco's Spain, and Saddam's Iraq are fascism.

From your own references:

"Hannah Arendt argued that while Italian fascism constituted a classical case of dictatorship, nazism and stalinism fundamentally differed from such forms of tyranny, in that the single-party state was completely subjected to the party, either a representant of the nation (conceived by Nazism as a Volksgemeinschaft - a Nazi neologism for "National community" -, which could only be achieved by gaining control of all aspects of cultural and social life - Gleichschaltung) or of the proletariat. To the contrary, according to Arendt's controversial thesis, Mussolini's fascism still respected the authority of the state on the party. Arendt also underlined the role of pan-germanism and pan-slavism in both Nazism and Stalinism, which she described as "continental imperialisms" whom connected themselves to the racist discourse born during the New Imperialism period. Hannah Arendt's thesis on the totalitarian identity between nazism and stalinism has inspired generation of thinkers, and has been also widely contested. It has been argued that fascism shared more traits with nazism, including a common ideology, which set these two regimes apart from communist regimes such as the USSR."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism

I agree - while fascism is authoritarian, it's not totalitarian. Where conservatism is about the establishment of privilege (i.e. entitlements for a narrow 'elite'), fascism takes it to extremes and collects support from bigots, zealots, and jingoists by pandering to their single-issue pathologies.

make the insane arguments in favor of suspending our freedoms in the name of "safety." I want to make the point that it is better to take your chances than to have so much "safety" from third parties that you are no longer "safe" from the government.

Our government works so well and so benignly that people take it for granted and don't see the danger of giving it more power. They don't realize it is benign because it doesn't have that kind of power to "keep them safe."