Is Fascism Back?

Namibia proudly occupied the moral high ground with the International Court of Justice case against the Palestinian genocide.

This actual and ongoing annihilation has now been substituted in the mass media by far-right forces in the United States (US) and South Africa with an imaginary ‘white’ genocide in South Africa – and by implication in Namibia – as a way to counter-attack. 

However, given Namibia’s history of genocide and extreme colonial violence, this nation must be at the forefront of resisting the latest form of fascism that has emerged.
 
THE RISE OF THE RIGHT

The rise of new far-right movements is driven by invented disasters.

In his book, ‘Disaster Nationalism – The Downfall of Liberal Civilisation’, Richard Seymour points out fictional catastrophes such as the ‘white’ genocide in South Africa, the Great Replacement of ‘white’ Americans by “brown” immigrants, the ‘Romeo Jihad’ of Muslim men against Hindu women, the sedition of ‘cultural Marxism’ that teaches equality, etc.

According to the Irish sociologist, this is not yet classic fascism but the emergence of a different kind of fascism promoted by a civil society network, culture wars and the goal of a constitutional rupture towards an authoritarian democracy.
The far right has internalised the foundations of neoliberalism.

The aim of neoliberalism was to protect capitalism against democracy and thus there is an overlap between neoliberalism and fascist political economy.

The background to this is that we are living in a dying Western civilisation – a process which has intensified since the Great Recession of 2008.

Seymour refers to a statement by venture capitalist Peter Thiel – who at one point attended school at Swakopmund and is a business partner of Elon Musk – that Donald Trump’s agenda is to make America a ‘normal country’ again.

In other words, a country dominated by ‘white’ people.

That is really what the fascist slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ means.

The alleged genocide of ‘white’ people in South Africa promoted by AfriForum and Solidarity is part of the culture wars aimed at strengthening white supremacist ideology. And there must be support for these organisations in Namibia.

Nevertheless, disaster nationalism promotes the idea of catastrophe, but it is crucial to remember that the popular violence of the far-right ends in genocide. Rhetorical violence leads to real violence.
 
THE WEAPONISATION OF FEAR AND LOATHING

But fascism has specific goals.

The American political scientist, Michael Parenti, in his ‘Blackshirts and Reds – Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism’ maintains that fascism has historically been used to secure the interests of big business against the demands of popular democracy.

Fascism is the use of rational objectives (such as class domination) with an irrational ideology (racism, xenophobia, homophobia, etc).
Such a strategy of tension is pursued by state security forces against the left to create fear and terror in order to undermine democracy and to replace it with authoritarianism.

Neo-fascism, according to Parenti, achieves the social class goals of classical fascism within quasi-democratic forms.

The characteristics of neo-fascism include:

– An upbeat presidency, replacing militarism with mass media support, persuading the population that the government – especially the public sector (in particular social services) – is the enemy while strengthening the repressive capacity (police, army and prisons) of the state;

– initiating resentment and antagonism;

– publicising the fictitious qualities of the free market, pursuing tax and spending measures that redistribute income upward, etc.
 
‘THIS IS THEIR NORMAL’

Therefore, the ‘normal’ that Thiel talks about has to be seen in the context of a Trumpism that represents a regime that must still be held accountable for the largest genocide in human history against indigenous Americans, the enslavement of millions of Africans, the countless crimes of imperialism and neo-colonialism, the supplying of weapons for the never-ending genocide of the Palestinian people and the enforcement of neo-fascist economic policies in the Global South.

This is their normal.

That is why Namibian citizens must urgently build an anti-fascist movement and begin to discuss forms of mass action against neo-fascism. It is pointless to have dialogue with the far right.

The Namibian people have the right and duty to defend themselves against neo-fascism. Let us begin to prepare today.

 – The authors are members of the Marxist Group of Namibia.