The F-Word

The F-Word, many of us use it without knowing what it actually means and what it stands for. Where does it come from? How did it start?

I am not talking about the F-Bomb, which I happen to use too often myself. No, I am talking about the other F-word….Fascism. A word I fear!

The symbol of the fascists was an axe with a bundle of rods, in Italian “fasces” – hence the name “fascism”. The fascists printed this symbol on their flags and used it as their logo. Already in ancient Rome, the sign symbolized the power over life and death. The fascists used it to express the strength of the covenant towards the individual.

Fascism in Italy under Mussolini

In 1921, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini founded the “National Fascist Party” (“Partito Nazionale Fascista”) in Italy, which was intended to bring Mussolini’s worldview to the population and inspire the people of the country to fascism. The fascist movement became more and more radical and forcibly took over the leadership of the Italian state. With the famous “March on Rome” in October 1922, in which about 26,000 fascist supporters participated, Mussolini pushed toward power. He was appointed prime minister by the Italian king and gradually abolished all democratic institutions. Mussolini gave himself the name “Duce” (from the old Latin word dux “chief” or “boss”.)

There was only the party of the fascists, opponents of Benito Mussolini were persecuted and the media was censored -the newspapers were only allowed to report in the interests of the government. Everyone had to obey the “Führer”, there was violence and terror in Italy. In addition, Mussolini spread racist ideas -according to his xenophobic worldview, people of a certain descent were more “worth” than other people.

In Italy, it could come to this at all, because, in Mussolini’s time, the people were very badly off. A large part of the population was affected by unemployment, poverty, and misery and hoped that the new Italian leader could change something, lead the country out of the crisis, and better support the “ordinary people”. But Mussolini took advantage of this to come to power and realize his fascist ideas. He ruled the country with unlimited power for many years until he was expelled by the King of Italy in 1943.

Fascism in Germany under Adolf Hitler (1933 – 1945)

Fascist thoughts and movements also existed in Germany, especially between 1933 and 1945 at the time of National Socialism under the dictator Adolf Hitler. Among other things, the Nazis took the ideas of Mussolini and the Italian fascists as a model. Their social order was also based on the “leader principle” -a leader was to rule the country with unlimited power. The political orientation was “anti-democratic” and xenophobic “racial doctrines” were spread to justify the alleged superiority of certain peoples.

Fascism in Spain under Franco (1939 – 1975)

Spain was ruled by a fascist dictatorship between 1939 and 1975 under General Francisco Franco. There were fascist movements in almost all European states. In some Latin American countries, they were still widespread even after the Second World War. Unfortunately, to this day there are always people and groups who proclaim fascist ideas.

Fascism is a radical right-wing political movement that rejects the values of democracy. The form of government of fascism is a dictatorship. In fascist systems, there is only one party, other parties next to it are banned or ruled out. Opponents of fascism are persecuted, tortured, and imprisoned in such a form of rule.

And why do I feel the need to post this on my blog? Hmmm!

The word “fascism” has been thrown around a lot lately. And I think some people are wondering, what it really is.

Fascists use violent “us vs. them” tactics to oppress people of color, immigrants, progressives, and our most vulnerable in order to “make the country great again” and gain more authoritarian power for white supremacists.

Think of KKK.

What does fascism look like? We’ve seen a lot of this in recent years.

Strongman, politicians like cult leaders are trying to control us and take away our rights.

For example, after the rise of Trump, it has become an increasingly common line of the Republican Party to support these oppressive policies such as national abortion bans, book bans in schools, and anti-trans “don’t say gay” laws.

The Republican Party has repeatedly rigged the system through things like maneuvering to elect GOP majorities without a majority of votes. Then, once in power, they promote their friends to lifetime seats in all courts to pass authoritarian laws.

For example, despite 64% public support, Trump and Senate Republicans managed to strip us of our reproductive rights by establishing a Supreme Court that overthrew Roe v. Wade. This only happens if an extremist minority succeeds in gaining government power.

This concept is not new. When Hitler came to power, he did so only after the German government gave in to far-right, white supremacist ideas that allowed him to take control and enforce the Holocaust. But without the support of those in power, Hitler would not have succeeded.

It’s been two years since a white supremacist held the highest office in our country, and his far-right, extremist beliefs are still being spread across the country by many who follow him -many of them are currently running for office.

They are fighting for the fossil fuel industry, which, despite a worsening climate crisis, is bent on destroying our communities for profit. They are fighting for wealthy white supremacists to succeed on our backs. They want state-sanctioned discrimination and they want a repressive military state that oppresses people and throws them in jail. Lock them up, lock all up who are against us or didn’t vote for us?

Elections can often be seen as a chance to win many things, but the next election is also about not losing to a violent, fascist movement. We must prevent them from coming to power so that they do not continue to deprive us of our rights.

So yes, we are fighting against fucking fascism (Here you go, the double F-Word just because I can)

Perhaps we all should just think about, our role in the fight against the rise of fascism? Am I going to speak out or sit it out?

It’s going to take more than one election to end this.