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From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Mon Dec 27 2010 - 14:10:56 EST
*The Rise and Rise of Super Fascism *
*By Ghali Hassan *
25 December, 2010
*Countercurrents.org *
*M*ention fascism and most peoples' minds turn to Nazi Germany, Fascist
Italy, Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal, Japanese Fascism, Papadopoulos'
Greece and South Africa's Apartheid regime. However, most people are
blissfully unaware of a rising form of fascism, more virulent than all past
fascist regimes combined. Its aim is to subjugate the entire planet and its
resources to U.S. corporate interests.
It is true that German Fascism, was evil, but it is also true that its
evilness has been exploited, even exaggerated by one powerful Zionist entity
and its supporters to justify the persecution and dispossession of the
Palestinian people. German Fascism has diversified and mutated into super
fascism supported by regimes claim to be “liberal democracies”.
The word Fascism originated from the Latin ‘Fasces', means a bundle of
sticks tied together to represent the ruling élite. At the heart of fascist
ideology are corporatism, militarism, nationalism, racism and total control
of citizens. Fascism is, “ a political system or regime with a tendency
toward or actual exercise of Fascism ” [Webster's Dictionary].
Unfortunately, many opportunists and apologists for Israel-U.S. crimes use
the word *fascism *as a name-calling, carelessly thrown it around to
demonise others in order to mislead the public.
In his 2003 essay *Fascism Anyone ?
<http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=britt_23_2>*,
the British writer, Laurence W. Britt, identifies fourteen characteristics
of fascism common to past fascist regimes. Are they common and shared by
regimes today? The purpose of this essay is to seriously inform people of
the growing danger of fascism today, using the fourteen characteristics as a
matchup.
1. *Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism **. *Fascism is
deeply rooted in a profound form of nationalism based on an illusion of race
superiority, “white supremacy”. The Patriotic Act, “Anti-terrorism” laws,
flag-waving, promotion of militarism and mass recitation of “Pledge of
Allegiance” to promote war are common characteristics of xenophobic
nationalism in the U.S., Israel, Europe and Australia. The American
historian Howard Zinn writes: “ Is not nationalism – hat devotion to a flag,
an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder – one of the great
evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred? These
ways of thinking--cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood
on--have been useful to those in power and deadly for those out of power”.
Negative nationalism, including “patriotism”, is the greatest danger to
civilisation.
In Europe, nationalism – once had plunged Europeans into protracted and
barbaric wars –, is on the rise and it is threatening the survival of the
European Union itself. It is a deadly virus spreading like fire throughout
Europe, while the U.S. looks on happily. As nationalism spread, the fate of
minorities is at the mercy of racist and populist sentiments.
2. *Disdain for the importance of human rights **. *Human rights are nothing
more than pretext to enforce Western domination on the rest of the world.
The U.S., Israel and Britain see human rights as an obstacle to their
expansionist ideology and no country in the world in contempt of
international human rights law than the U.S., Israel and Britain. The U.S.
and Israel, in particular, are serial violators of human rights law. When
European and U.S. politicians visited the Gaza Concentration Camp in
Israel-occupied Palestine, the only prisoner they expressed concern about is
an Israeli POW who has been accorded all his human rights under the Geneva
Conventions by his Palestinian captors. They totally ignored some 11000
Palestinian prisoners, many of them women and children, who are subjected to
gross human rights violations, including torture by the Israeli Gestapo.
“Through clever use of propaganda by marginalizing and demonizing those
being targeted, the population was brought to accept human rights
violations, including torture and sexual abuses. When the abuses were
egregious, the tactic was to use secrecy, denial, and disinformation”,
writes Laurence. Human rights abuses, including torture, are part of
America's violent history. The U.S. aggression against Iraq and Afghanistan
exposed America's dark history of torture and flagrant abuses of human
rights.
Prisoners of war and detainees (many without charges) were incarcerated,
abused and tortured in global gulags and concentration camps around the
world. From Guantánamo Bay Camp in Cuba to Afghanistan to Iraq and to
countless “black sites” prisons, innocent men, women and children have been
subjected to injustice, human rights abuses and torture. In Iraq, there are
hundreds of known and secret concentration camps and prisons, where innocent
Iraqi civilians are being detained under deplorable conditions without being
charged with any crime. Tens of thousands have been detained for years and
an equal number have disappeared, possibly unlawfully executed. There are no
charges, no due process and no justice. The situation in U.S.-NATO-occupied
Afghanistan is even worse than in Iraq. Both nations were illegally invaded
and have endured oppression, human rights abuses, injustice, torture, rape,
and looting. One wonders why the Noble Prize Committee has no concern for
Muslim prisoners' welfare.
It is well-documented that the justice system in the U.S. is a travesty of
justice. Guantánamo Bay Camp is considered “outside U.S. legal jurisdiction”
despite it is located on a U.S. Navy base in Cuba. This flawed argument
designed to deny justice to illegally detained men in flagrant violation of
the Geneva Conventions and international human rights law. The Camp has
become as notorious as, Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Bagram Base in Afghanistan.
Prisoners, including male children are denied their human rights, abused and
tortured, and some have been executed. Many have been destroyed mentally,
although they have committed no crimes. For example, Omar Khadr, an
Afghan-Canadian (child soldier) prisoner of war in Guantánamo Bay Camp since
he was 15 years old is a case of naked hypocrisy. Khadr was tortured and
coerced (forced to sign a confession) into plea-bargain and sentenced to 40
years in prison for allegedly killing a U.S. soldier on the battlefield
while defending his country against an illegal foreign invasion, while U.S.
and Western leader who committed heinous war crimes remain free and
unindicted.
3. *Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause **. *The most
common characteristic of fascism is scapegoating of people from minorities.
Even before 9/11, Muslims were identified as enemies, accused of
‘taking-over' Europe. The event of 9/11 was an opportunity to justify
attacking the scapegoats, Islam and Muslims. In Europe and many parts of the
U.S., Canada and Australia, Muslims are often unfairly depicted as
terrorists, anti-women and violent in order to justify racism and
injustices. False flag terrorist acts orchestrated by Western governments to
justify gross injustice and stirrup xenophobic fear against Muslims.
Most importantly, the rise of Islamophobia in the U.S. and Europe is
fuelling the war on Islam and Muslim nations. In all these countries the
population are feed (by the media) a daily diet of racism to improve their
support for an aggressive war being waged by the U.S. and its allies against
the Islam and Muslims. In Australia, anti-Muslims hatred and bigotry have
infected every Australian institution. Racial profiling of Muslims has
become a cancerous disease speeding rabidly into Australian government
agencies, universities and even schools.
In the U.S., the war on Muslims is worsening and provides ammunition to
America's war on Islamic nations abroad. Islamophobia has become a
fully-fledged Zionist industry that promotes fear of Muslims as part of U.S.
war. The enemies of Israel are the enemies of the ruling élite. “ Much of
this bigotry and misinformation can be traced directly to what I am calling
the infrastructure of hate, an industry which connects venomous anti-Islamic
blogs, wealthy [Jewish] donors, powerful think tanks, and influential media
commentators, journalists, and politicians”, writes Frankie Martin, the Ibn
Khaldun Chair Research Fellow at American University's School of
International Service in Washington DC ( *Washington Post *, 27 October
2010) .
Europe has become a bastion of Islamophobia. Clones of Adolf Hitler are
sprouting like wild mushrooms all over Europe. Their fascist policies have
become part of Europe's mainstream politics. Many of these small clones have
said that they are proud to be compared to Adolf Hitler. Their support is
growing alarmingly in countries with an ugly history of collaboration with
Nazi Germany. In the so-called “open” and “tolerant” societies of Austria,
Belgium, Britain, Croatia, Denmark, France, Holland, Hungry, Italy, Norway,
Sweden and Switzerland fascist forces are on the rise with a Zionist and
militarist agenda.
4. *The supremacy of the military/avid militarism **. *The military
industrial complex is the most powerful corporate industry in the U.S. The
U.S. military budget is a phenomenal. It is estimated that the U.S. spend
$623 billion – not includes $3 billion military aid to Israel – on military
in 2008. U.S. military spending exceed the rest of the world's spending
combined. U.S. military feeds on the largest budget and resources, even when
more than fifty million Americans are in desperate needs and the country is
drowning in debt. Billions of U.S. tax payer dollars are spent on the
military every day. As pointed out by Laurence; “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 élite ”. The U.S. has access to the largest stockpiles of nuclear,
biological, and chemical of weapons in the world that Hitler didn't have.
The world's most militarised society is also ruled by a wealthy Zionist and
neo-fascist ruling élite that could blow up the world at any time .
In addition to this giant monster, the world largest military organisation,
NATO, is under the control of US generals and remains an instrument of the
U.S. militarism. “The alliance itself is an excrescence of the U.S.
military-industrial complex. For sixty years, military procurements and
Pentagon contracts have been an essential source of industrial research,
profits, jobs, Congressional careers, even university funding. The interplay
of these varied interests converges to determine an implicit U.S. strategy
of world conquest”, writes Diana Johnstone, author of *Fools Crusade:
Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions *. This offensive military
“alliance” continues to expand in dangerous direction.
Under the rubric of “Western shared values and common interests”, the U.S.
has assembled the biggest imperialist military force in history. Threatened
and coerced, regimes from around the world are joining in drove with
“slavish devotion” to U.S. wars. As mentioned earlier, fascism protects
corporate interests and the ruling élite . It is not difficult to argue why
so many regimes are joining U.S. aggressive wars. If they cannot join U.S
war because of domestic pressure, they open their nations' door' to U.S.
military. The U.S. military has more than 1000 fortified military bases
(large and small) in countries around the world. They are not only used as
launch pads for aggression against other nations, but also protecting
hideous and corrupt dictators in most countries where they are based. Most
of these bases are installed against the wishes of the overwhelming majority
of the local populations.
In a recent interview on 29 November 2010, U.S. ADM. James Stavridis, NATO
supreme allied commander and U.S. European Command chief, told *Defense News
*: “NATO is ‘a wealthy alliance' with a $31 trillion collective GDP. It is a
‘big and capable alliance' with 7 million troops and 3,400 ships”. It is a
truly super fascist alliance. Its new concept of “expeditionary operations”
means attacking nations beyond NATO territories, known that there is no
other nation or groups of nations that pose any serious threat to this super
fascist force. The existence of this militarised and “wealthy alliance”
depends on unprovoked aggression and manufactured pretexts for war.
*Naked Aggression *
Militarism and aggression go hand in hand, like a parasite and its host.
Nazi Germany, Fascist Japan and Apartheid South Africa were notorious
examples. Today, the U.S., Britain and Israel are leading the way. In fact,
there are striking similarities between the past three regimes and the
current three regimes. Naked aggression has been integrated into
U.S.-Western corporate culture.
Since World War Two, the U.S. – supported by the like of Britain, Israel
Canada and Australia – has massacred more civilians and destroyed more
nations than all past fascist regimes combined. It is rightly argued that
every U.S. government (including every U.S. president) since 1945, is guilty
of war crimes and flagrant violation of international law *. *Any nation
that refuses to submit to U.S.-Zionist ideology and U.S. dictate is
threatened with violence. “You're either with us or against us”, said George
W. Bush. There is no neutrality, and nations' sovereignty has become
obsolete.
Even a great nation like China is threatened. If China “refuses” to submit
to Western dictate, we must be prepared to use force (i.e., aggression),
said Kevin Rudd, former prime minister (now foreign minister) of Australia,
the U.S. “staunch” vassal in Asia-Pacific. You think Rudd, who claims to be
an “expert” on China, thinks twice before making such an unwise statement.
“Every 10 years or so the U.S. needs to pick up some [defenceless] little
country and throw it against the wall, just to show we mean business”,
writes Michael Ledeen, a U.S. Zionist propagandist. Every country that has
been invaded by the U.S. military was left a shattered graveyard and a
humanitarian misery. The aim is to instil fear in the world's population,
dominate the world and force U.S. dictate onto another people.
It is vitally important to highlight few recent examples of U.S. aggression
and flagrant violation of international law. The U.S. war on Korea
(1950-1953) caused the unnecessary death of some 3 million Koreans and
destroyed every city and village in North Korea or Democratic People's
Republic of Korea. Since 1953, the DPRK has been defending itself against
U.S. aggression and ongoing false propaganda. The 1953 armistice designed to
justify U.S. military presence in the region and threatened neighbouring
nations.
A decade after the aggression against North Korea, the U.S. began another
decade-long criminal aggression against the people of Vietnam that caused
the death of more than 3 million innocent civilians and contaminated the
country with biological and chemical agents, including napalm. Despite its
military superiority, unlimited resources and indiscriminate violence, the
U.S.-imperialism was defeated by a peasant society. In 1991, the U.S. began
a criminal aggression against Iraq to “eradicate” its defeat in Vietnam and
remove the so-called the “Vietnam syndrome”.
It is estimated that t he 1990 U.S.-Britain enforced genocidal sanctions
caused the death of more than 2 million innocent Iraqi civilians, including
the death of more than 600,000 infants under the age of five. On 15
December, 2010, the UN Security Council – chaired by no other than U.S.
Vice-President, the Zionist Joe Biden – voted to “end” the sanctions on Iraq
after the puppet government accepted U.S. conditions, including long-lasting
colonial occupation. According to John Mueller and Karl Mueller, the brutal
and inhumane sanctions against the Iraqi people have caused far more deaths
over time than the combined use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons
in the two world wars (Foreign Affairs, May/June 1999). Asked whether this
was worth the death of half a million children, Madeleine Albright, the
former U.S. Ambassador to the UN replied: “We think the price is worth it”.
The genocidal sanctions followed by the 2003 criminal U.S.-British
aggression. The unprovoked aggression is the most barbaric aggression in the
history of barbarism; a supreme international war crime. It was premeditated
aggression against a defenceless people under genocidal siege. Despite the
suffering inflicted on the Iraqi people, the crimes were covered-up by the
media. (For more on U.S. crimes in Iraq, see: Joy Gordon, *Invisible War:
The United States and the Iraq Sanctions *, Harvard, 2010).
In 2001, the U.S. began replicating the atrocities in Vietnam are being
replicated in Afghanistan. Since 2001, U.S. and NATO force have occupied and
terrorise the nation of Afghanistan. Thousands of Afghan civilians have been
killed by U.S.-NATO indiscriminate and relentless U.S. aerial bombing and
strafing, including the illegal and criminal drone attacks on Afghanistan
and Pakistan that caused the death of more than 2000 Pakistani civilians.
For the people of Afghanistan, living conditions and security have
deteriorated beyond belief under a new form of Western colonialism. Like all
U.S. aggressions, the war on Afghanistan is a crime against humanity. It is
vitally important to note that; ”all the war crimes the U. S. has committed
against other peoples were not planned and carried out by sadistic thugs or
xenophobic right-wingers but by ordinary folks who come from solid family
backgrounds, are well mannered, display elevated cultural taste, and may
even be informed by good intentions, writes Boggs. And the planners of these
horrendous crimes are mostly so-called whiz kids liberal, cultured, urbane,
visionary government officials and many celebrated academics from the Ivy
League Schools”, writes Carl Boggs, a Professor of Social Sciences at
National University in Los Angeles .
According to a report entitled *Project for the New American Century *authored
by a gang of U.S. Zionists and neo-fascists, including Dick Cheney, Donald
Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and Donald Kagan, which was
published 2008, the fall of Communism is an opportunity for the U.S. to rule
the world militarily and establish a new worldwide empire through aggression
and permanent war, using international organisations such as, the World
Bank, the IMF, the WTO, the UN and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to
provide cover and legitimacy for U.S. crimes, mostly committed in broad
daylight.
In October 2001, then U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney said that U.S. “war on
terror” was “different” from other wars: “in the sense that it may never
end. At least, not in our lifetime”. In other words, the U.S. is in
perpetual war of aggression against countries and people the U.S. ruling
élite deemed to be counters to U.S. imperialism.
5. *Rampant sexism **. *The ruling élite of fascist regimes tend to be
male-dominated. Fascism mobilise masculine virile energy in time of war. One
of the lies used to justify U.S. aggression against defenceless people is
the “liberation” of women. In fascist regimes, women are seen as less
aggressive, gay-sympathisers and tend to be anti-abortion, although not all
women are anti-abortion. In most U.S.-led Western societies, the political
and economic establishments are still very male-dominated. Women are
considered less intelligent and lack the ‘ethics' of strong male leaders.
Treated as second-class citizens, women play a secondary role. Violence,
including sexual violence, against women is as high as U.S. skyscrapers. The
current trends of using women as “seductive” tools to win votes for a
particular male-dominated party are a tragedy not an advancement in gender
equality.
6. *A controlled mass media. *The media and the “entertainment” industry
important tasks are the coercion and indoctrination of the population from
early childhood. Zionist propagandists called this the “intelligent
manipulation of the masses”. It is a formidable achievement with truly
global results. Just take a look at the tens of thousands of Australians
flocked to Sydney Harbour to see Oprah Winfrey.
Objectivity doesn't exist in corporate media, and “free speech” is free if
the ruling élite like it. Today's propaganda is more superior and more
efficient than at any time in history of propaganda. it is a global
propaganda rife with distortion, slander, cover-ups and outright lies. The
main players are the U.S. government and wealthy U.S. Zionists with a
complete monopoly on mainstream media. From TV channels such as, CNN, CBS,
Fox News, BBC and print media like Murdoch Press and the *New York Times *to
Internet web sites like Google, Facebook and YouTube, all owned by
pro-Israel Zionist Jews. According to Canadian journalist, Eric Walberg;
”Google co-founder and billionaire Sergei Brin is a big supporter
financially of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society that funds Jewish immigrants
to settle in Israel” on Palestinian land. In addition, the U.S. corporate
élite and wealthy U.S. Zionists have a total control on the “entertainment”
industry, including Hollywood, which plays an important role in spreading
pro-U.S. Zionist propaganda.
While the rhetoric of “free media” is prevalent in most Western countries, a
culture of censorship is widespread even by the most “independent” and
“alternative” media outlets. Journalists and reporters have to abide by and
adhere to a one-sided framework that promotes U.S.-Western fascist policies.
Because if they deviates from this ' doctrinal framework' or from the line
of serving power, they wouldn ' t get their work published. Propagandists
and apologists (i.e., accomplices in war crimes) are rewarded and elevated
to iconic status in the media in order to be perceived by the public as
even-handed “intellectuals”. Anyone deviates from this fascist framework
risks persecution and character assassination.
The ongoing criminal attacks by Western politicians and the corporate media
on *WikilLeaks *for daring to release a large cache of U.S. “diplomatic”
cables. U.S. politicians and commentator in the corporate media have called
*WikilLeaks *a terrorist organisation and are calling for its co-founder,
Julian Assange, to be thrown in Guantánamo Bay Camp or killed by Special
Forces. A former assistant to Canadian prime minister the extremist Stephen
Harper has proposed assassination as the best way to remove Assange. T he
primary aim of this violent thinking is to warn and blackmail others. It is
also possible that the U.S. and its allies are using *WikilLeaks *to justify
silencing dissident media, particularly in the Internet.
While the *WikilLeaks *disclosure is a welcome relief, the mainstream and
corporate media have selected few cables to promote U.S. war on Iran and
North Korea and undermine the impact of the leaked information. As one of
the *New York Times *mindless propagandists, David Brooks writes: “ The
Times has thus erected a series of filters between the 250,000 raw documents
that WikilLeaks obtained and complete public exposure. The paper has
released only a tiny percentage of the cables. Information that might
endanger informants has been redacted. Specific cables have been put into
context with broader reporting” ( *NYT *29 November 2010). Where are the
lies used to justify the U.S. aggression against Iraq? Exposure of these
lies will strengthen the case of war crimes against the perpetrators of the
war and the deaths of more than a million innocent Iraqis . Does *WikiLeaks
*have anything related to Israel's serious war crimes and terrorist acts? In
reality, a lot of the leaked cables are dubious in nature and benefits
Israel's fascist agenda more than and undermining U.S. imperialism and
threatening U.S. national security.
7. *Obsession with national security **. *The so-called “war on terrorism”
is meaningless. First, it is a manufactured catchall phrase to label and
demonise the enemy and protect the ruling élite; and second, it is a pretext
to justify aggressive wars and control the population through draconian laws
and repressive measures. The *Washington Post *(20 December 2010) reports
that since 9/11 the U.S. “ is assembling a vast domestic intelligence
apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local
police, state homeland security offices and military criminal
investigators”. The U.S. claim that it needs the information to protect the
population from acts of terrorism is ironic. The U.S. is the world's biggest
exporter of terrorism and a source of instability everywhere. In the new age
of “security”, police and security guards littered the streets of Western
cities and towns ready for every move. Peaceful protesters are attacked with
rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray. If arrested, protestors risk
criminal charges and imprisonment.
In the U.S., presidential directives allow police and security agents (CIA
and FBI) to abduct, kidnap, detain indefinitely and torture people suspected
of planning “terrorism”. In February 2010, President Obama signed a one-year
extension of three provisions of the Patriotic Act to allow the government
“to obtain roving wiretaps over multiple communication devices, seize
suspects' records without their knowledge ” ( *Christian Science Monitor *,
01 March, 2010). Americans have been told to spy on their neighbours, a
despicable act which was used by the Nazis.
In the current case of WikilLeaks, a number of U.S. Congressmen and
journalists have called for the prosecution of Julian Assange under the 1917
Espionage Act for breaching U.S. security. This is not something out of the
blue, but has been used in the past to prosecute American citizens. It is
reminiscent of Nazi Germany's prosecution of people – labelled “traitors” –
who criticised the Nazi Party or made joke about the F u ehrer.
In the U.S. and in Europe, communities and entire cities have been subjected
to 24-hours camera surveillance – a form of repression. Large metropolitan
cities like London, New York and Chicago have become forests of surveillance
cameras and by far the most camera-surveilled cities in the world. One
quarter of the world's surveillance cameras are in Britain. Citizens are
watched around the clock and their movements are recorded and tracked
(through a series of ID cards and credit cards) as they go about their daily
business. In addition, many cities in the U.S. have begun using iris
scanning technology, an invasive form of identification. Fear is forcing
people to make more concessions.
According to civil rights groups and privacy advocates, the growing culture
of surveillance posed great threat to civil liberties and personal freedom
of citizens. The aim is to have a total control of society by whatever
means, and force people to submit to draconian laws. Furthermore, the
obsession with national security is also a corporate business that benefits
the manufacturers of surveillance cameras, iris scanners and their
Congressional lobbyists. Security is simply a pretext for no personal
security.
8. *Religion and ruling élite tied together **. *George W. Bush justified
his criminal wars as a “message from God”. Hence, opposing Bush's war crimes
was considered an attack on God, Bush's God. The U.S. is not exceptional,
most regimes (even the most unreligious) use religion to rally support for a
godless ruling élite .
The U.S is one of the most religious countries in the world, almost
fanatical. Successive U.S. regimes attached themselves to the state
predominant religion, Christianity. Furthermore, a large segment of the
American population, including more than fifty million (and growing)
Evangelical Christian-fascists are religious fanatics that form the
political base of the Republicans Party.
No other nation uses religion to justify war crimes than the state of Israel
in Palestine. The Zionist entity is forcing the rest of the world to
recognise it as a “Jewish state”, so it can commit more crimes.
9. *Power of corporations protected **. *Fascism is characterised by a
“corporatist approach to economics”, as in the U.S. and major Western states
today. Indeed, protection of corporate power is an essential part of
fascism. It is not secret, what is good for IBM and Boeing is good for the
country. According to a new report by the New York Times , even the U.S.
Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts is increasingly defending and
siding with corporate interests. The ruling élite “have chosen to serve the
narrowest possible private minority interests of transnational financial and
industrial corporations”, writes Susan George of the Transnational Institute
in Amsterdam. Hence, fascism is corporatism. The ruling élite write the
rules in ways to benefit the few (owners of corporations) at the expense of
the majority. 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 élite see the corporate structure as a way to not only ensure
military production, but also as an additional means of social control.
Members of the economic élite were often pampered by the political élite to
ensure a continued mutuality of interests, especially in the repression of
the “have-not” citizens. The ruling-corporate élites are so powerful, even
if a change in the White House doesn't lead to a change in policy. The Obama
Administration proposal of a two-year pay freeze for all civilian federal
workers while leaving Wall Street and corporate CEOs continue to make record
profits and bonuses through tax cuts and bail-out is a case in point. In his
recent fiscal deal with the Republicans, President Obama cut the net
earnings of the lowest-paid workers and passed them to the wealthiest 1 per
cent Americans. In other words *, *Obama agreed to extend George W. Bush tax
cut to the wealthiest Americans.
10. *Power of labour suppressed or eliminated **. *Under fascist regimes,
unions and organised labour considered enemy of the state. In the U.S, the
working-class or public workers have been decimated by successive U.S.
regimes on behalf of big wealthy corporations.
In most Western countries striking union workers were attacked and organized
labour was crashed by the ruling élite and its corporate allies. Former
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Australian prime
minister, the bigoted John Howard were vicious enemies of unions and the
working-class. In Germany, France, Spain and Greece, anti-labour laws are on
the rise.
One of the major reasons Western powerful corporations have relocated their
export industries off-shore to China and elsewhere is to exploit the labour
there and ineffective regulations in host countries. The high profits
operations have destroyed organised labour at home, in the U.S., Europe,
Japan and South Korea. Economic ‘globalisation', a variant of U.S.
imperialism, has perpetuated workers exploitation.
Local workers (“Third World” workers) are forced to work under criminal and
inhumane conditions, and paid poverty-level- wages. If they protested, they
will be dealt with severely. The recent case in Chittagong, Bangladesh when
police fired on striking garment workers killing 4 workers and injured more
than 150 workers is a case in point.
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”, writes Laurence. In fascist regimes, ignorance
is encouraged while intellectualism and awareness were discouraged.
Intellectuals and the arts are promoted and encouraged as far as they
provide needed propaganda.
In the U.S., the McCarthyism era was followed by different forms of
repression. People who question or doubt the official story of 9/11 are
demonised and depicted as anti-American “conspirators”. The event was used
as an opportunity for the U.S. government to crackdown on dissent, including
students' protest and academic freedom.
Through tight control of intellectual and academic freedom, universities
have turned into right-wing think tanks and racist laboratories of citizens'
indoctrination. Universities have become powerful and privileged
corporations that seemed far removed from the daily life of ordinary people.
Academics are paid propagandists spreading false propaganda to manipulate
the masses.
Terry Eagleton, who was forced to retire from his post as John Edward Taylor
Professor of English Literature at Manchester University writes: “By and
large, academic institutions have shifted from being the accusers of
corporate capitalism to being its accomplices? They are intellectual Tescos,
churning out a commodity known as graduates rather than greengroceries”. As
Laurence writes; “Politically independent academics harassed or eliminated.
Unorthodox ideas or expressions of dissent were strongly attacked, silenced,
or crushed”.
12. *Obsession with crime and punishment **. *The U.S. is leading the world
in incarceration rate and the prison industry is one of the largest “growth”
industries. The U.S. has more prisoners than anywhere on the planet. Nearly
10% of the population or one in 100 adults in the U.S. is in jail or prison.
On average, one in every 20 American men is behind bars or “being
monitored”. In 2008, about 5.1 million people were on probation or parole.
Most of those incarcerated are African-Americans and Latinos caught in an
unjust and corrupt justice system. According to the *Washington Post *(29
February 2008); “ One in nine black men ages 20 to 34 is behind bars. For
black women ages 35 to 39, the figure is one in 100, compared with one in
355 for white women in the same age group”.
Police power is sacrosanct and promoted to the point of encouraging abuse of
people from minorities. The police were often glorified and had almost
unchecked power, leading to rampant abuses. Petty crimes is exaggerated and
used and as an excuse for more police power. With the help of the media and
Hollywood, crimes have also become an obsession of the majority. The ruling
élite like to talk tough every time they talk about crimes, but not their
own.
13. *Rampant cronyism and corruption **. *The U.S. and Israel are ranked
very high amongst the most corrupt nations in the world. The economic and
the ruling élite used their positions to enrich themselves and their
cronies. “Corruption worked both ways; the ruling élite would receive
financial gifts and property from the economic élite , who in turn would
gain the benefit of government favouritism”, writes Laurence.
In general, cronyism and corruption are widespread in most Western
countries, but it is cleverly covered-up and normalised in the media and in
ruling élite circles. For example, in Australia, cronyism and corruption are
parts of the Australian culture and deeply embedded in every government,
public and private institution. Privileged employment and positions are all
in the hands of white Australians and it is a well fenced territory. There
is no exception throughout Australia, one state is more corrupt and more
prejudice than the other.
The same rampant culture of cronyism and corruption is also exported
world-wide, particularly, to countries occupied by Western forces. After the
invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S. authorities began an expensive
campaign to promote cronyism and corruption among the ruling élite, the
puppet governments. The aim is to demonise the nations and cover-up the
crimes of the occupying forces. It is no coincidence that Afghanistan and
Iraq are amongst the most corrupt nations in the world today.
14. *Fraudulent elections **. *Former U.S. president George W. Bush was an
illegitimate president for two terms having arrived at the White House
through well-known rigged elections. In general, U.S. elections are nothing
more than a marketing campaign to manipulate and deceive the public because
the U.S. is ruled by a powerful unelected ruling class. It is a plutocracy
masquerading as democracy. The so-called, two-party system is a fraud. It is
a one-party with two branches system that serves corporate interest. It
doesn't matter who occupy the White House.
The U.S. love affair with fraudulent elections in countries ruled by
murderous dictators and corrupt despots is not secret. From Iraq to
Afghanistan to Pakistan to Kosovo to Turkmenistan to Kazakhstan to Egypt and
to Honduras and Haiti, the U.S. record of financing and staging fraudulent
elections is staggering. Moreover, U.S. role in “colour revolutions” – in
Uzbekistan, Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan – produced the kind of despots
that the U.S. ruling élite love to support. In reality, the U.S. is a
leading exporter of fraudulent elections and an arch enemy of democracy.
Throughout the world, the U.S. interference designed to promote instability
and exploit local conflicts to expand U.S. imperialism.
In most European countries that pretend to be “liberal democracies”,
elections lack transparency and accountability which undermines democracy
and gives rise to cynicism and mistrust. They are becoming increasingly
authoritarian. It is true, people have to vote, but their votes are
meaningless. It is always, the same old wine in new bottle. All over Europe,
elections are used to manipulate and con the population. “The European Union
is not a democratic entity”, writes Susan George. It is an authoritarian
state. “Anti-democratic values are taking hold. We have become stakeholders
instead of citizens, consumers instead of sovereign people, we are offered
consultation rather than real participation”, she added.
Writing in *The New York Review of Books
<http://www.pegc.us/archive/Articles/eco_ur-fascism.pdf>*in 1995 , the
Italian writer and academic Umberto Eco, also identified fourteen “features
that are typical” of what Eco called “Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism”.
Umberto noted that not all of the fourteen features have to be present at
the same time for a regime to be called fascist, and “many of them
contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or
fanaticism. But it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to
coagulate around it” . Umberto writes: “Take away imperialism from fascism
and you still have Franco and Salazar. Take away colonialism and you still
have the Balkan fascism of the Ustashes [Croatia]. Add to the Italian
fascism a radical anti-capitalism (which never much fascinated Mussolini)
and you have Ezra Pound [the American expatriate fascist]. Add a cult of
Celtic mythology and the Grail mysticism (completely alien to official
fascism) and you have one of the most respected fascist gurus, Julius
Evola”. Like the above matchup of fourteen characteristics, Umberto argued
that all fourteen features that he identified applied to the U.S. regime to
some degree.
Finally, the U.S. and many U.S. allies – Britain and Israel, to name two –
have already entered a moment with all the characteristics of fascist
regimes. With a complete monopoly on military power, violence and the media,
the U.S. is a super fascist state , proliferating and propping-up smaller
fascist states . It has become clear that, world order is no longer governed
by international law and civilised norms, nor by treaties based on peaceful
and multilateral agreements, but is based on the U.S. use of military threat
and violence in pursuit of a fascist ideology to dominate the on behalf of
U.S. ruling-corporate élite .
It is not difficult to predict the future under U.S. fascist domination.
Fascism is not the way to defend freedom, promote democracy and provide
security, adherence to the rules of law and civilised norms is. It is the
duty of conscious people to dissent together against a U.S.-led super
fascism on behalf of humanity.
*Ghali Hassan is an independent political analyst living in Australia. *
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